An Inconvenient Husband
by AngeloftheMorning1978
Summary: Warning! Erotica! The Convenient Wife: what if? After Arthur's death on "The Empress of Ireland", Ariadne is left a penniless widow. With nowhere to go, she and her daughter Olivia are dependent on the care of her late husband's cousin, Mr. Eames. But when other relatives, war and romantic rivals come to Blue Rivers, her lingering stability is threatened. A&E AU
1. Chapter 1

**The Convenient Wife: what if? **

**After Arthur's death on "The Empress of Ireland", Ariadne is left a penniless widow. With nowhere to go, she and her daughter Olivia are dependent on the care of her late husband's cousin, Mr. Eames. But when other relatives, war and romantic rivals come to Blue Rivers, her lingering stability is threatened. **

**An Inconvenient Husband**

**Part I**

**The New Beginning**

_~ Blue Rivers ~_

_~ June 1913 ~_

1.

"Yes, well you are home. I suspect Ariadne was glad to see you. You two were always close." Arthur observed as he helped himself to more Sake.

Eames said nothing. He knew what his cousin was getting at.

"_Too_ close. I think." Arthur mussed as the Sake seemed to make his tongue more lose.

"I don't know what you mean, cousin." Eames said at last.

"Well, let me clear it up for you. I saw Ariadne returning to the house today with her dress rumpled and her corset and underthings in her hands. You followed her a few minutes later. Now tell me, Mr. Eames, what am I to think of that? What is a husband supposed to think happened between his wife and another man?" Arthur said helping himself to another drink.

Eames felt like he was a school boy in trouble with the master. As if he had been caught doing some naughty thing and the master wisely wanted a confession out of him before punishment.

He gave his cousin a smug smile.

"You'll have to ask your wife about that." Eames said.  
"I'm asking you." Arthur barked.

Eames shook his head.

"Eames," Arthur growled, emboldened by the drink. "Leave her alone. She's my wife. I don't have to tell you how much I care for her. Our marriage my have started out as a business arrangement, but it's more than that now."

"If you care so much for her, why dose she want me?" Eames asked. "Why does she sleep in another room?"

Arthur sat back.  
"Did she say she wants to be with you?" Arthur huffed. His hands curling into a fist.

"She didn't have to _say_ anything, Arthur." Eames said with a grin.

Eames saw Arthur was breathing hard as the lord of Blue Rivers stood.  
"How much?" he snarled. "How much do you want to leave us in peace?"

"What do you mean?" Eames asked.  
"Every man has a price. How much will it take for you to just walk away from Blue Rivers? Walk away tonight and never come back?" Arthur asked.

Eames stood. He could handle his drink better than Arthur, who was already turning red in the face from over indulgence and anger.  
"There is no price. I care very deeply for Ariadne." he said.  
"Has she been indecent with you?" Arthur barked. "What exactly happened today?"

"Why should you care?" Eames bristled.

He wanted to challenge this heir to his family home. The wealthy young man who breezed into Blue Rivers with everything; appreciating nothing.

"She's my wife." Arthur said with a manic glint in his eye.

Eames chuckled.  
"Your wife." he said teasingly. "Who sleeps in another bed. Why should you care if she has a dirty little affair with me? Why should you care so much if she derives satisfaction with me that you can't provide?"

Eames didn't expect Arthur to punch him.

He had been in plenty of fights before. Most of them for money or bragging rights, very few filled with any passion stronger than the drink. But Arthur was crazed at the moment.  
"You leave my family alone!" he shouted as Eames blocked another blow, fell back over a potted plant and manged to right himself again.  
"Don't do this, Arthur." Eames said calmly.

He knew his cousin was no fighter. True, he was lean and agile, but Eames was in possession dense musculature that always gave him an advantage.

Arthur lunged at him again and Eames punched him hard in the face.

His American cousin fell back over the coffee table, jumped back up, and went to hit him again.

Eames had to hand it to Arthur, he didn't know when to quit. He recovered from each punch quickly and managed to get a few hits in.  
"Sirs!" came the shocked cry of the one of the footmen. "Sirs! What is happening? Stop it! Stop it now!"

Eames pushed Arthur off him and it took the interruption of the two footmen to bring the gentlemen back to their senses.

~ Eames looked sadly at the way Ariadne cared over her drunken, bleeding husband. Never mind that he was drunker, bleeding more and his suit was torn on top of it. Ariadne only care about Arthur.

It was then his great loved turned on him like a wolf.

"You did this?" She snapped at him.

Eames felt his face fall as the petite little woman looked bitterly angry at him.

"We were drinking." Eames said at last. "These things happen."

Surely she could understand how men were when they drank.

She looked ready to boil over with rage.

"Michael, Andrew," She said to the footmen "Please have Maggie, and Maggie _alone_, come downstairs with her sewing box. Tell no one but her, and she needs to be quite and discreet."

"Yes, ma'am." The footmen said with a little bow.

"Gentlemen?" She called after them. They turned and looked back worriedly. "Thank you so much for attending to this matter so well. For keeping this house and family above scandal." She told them.

The young men looked happy with the praise and left her.

She turned to Eames like a rabid wolf.

"You attacked my husband?" She growled.  
"No." Eames tried to explain. "He attacked me first."

"I don't believe that." She hissed.

"It's true. He's a different man when he's been drinking."

"What did you do to him?"

"Nothing." Eames said unable to stop the smirk on his lips.

"Nothing?" Ariadne accused.

"He seems to think there is something going on with us."

"Why would he think that, Mr. Eames?" She said.

Her eyes narrowing as he sensed a raw hatred radiating out to him.  
"Mr. Eames, I think you should remain at the village for the rest of your stay here. As soon as possible, I would like you to return to London." She told him at last.

'_She must be joking_.' he thought.  
"Ariadne?" He whispered.

"Maggie is here, ma'am." Miles said suddenly.

Ariadne turned to see the very pretty new maid with flowing red hair and bright blue eyes.

"You're Margret Williams?" Ariadne asked her.

"I am. Yes, missus." Maggie said in a frightened tone.  
"Maggie and her son James are staying in the maids quarters till they can find a place in the village." Miles explained.

"I see." Ariadne said looking at the fair skin and enviable red hair of this young woman. "Maggie, I know this is unusual and it's very late, but Lord Bradford has had an accident. He doesn't want to upset the doctor this late at night, but I think he will need stitches. Miles thinks you can do the job, but I will understand if you don't wish to." Ariadne told her as diplomatically as possible.

"Oh, no, missus. I've sew stitches on skin before. It won't bother me." Maggie said.

The two women attended to Arthur before the lady of the house turned back to him.  
"Mr. Eames, please go to your room. I think we've all had enough excitement for tonight." She told her him.

Eames felt a horrible sense of rejection coming over him.

What a fool he was to think a woman like her cared for him. Of course she would never leave a man like Arthur. She was settled nicely in the grand house with money and comfort. She would never leave those things to be with him.

He left Blue Rivers that night; vowing never to return.

He packed a ruck sack and forgot his typewriter and camera entirely. It was only when he was halfway to London, did he remember them.

_~ Blue Rivers ~_

_~ June, 1914 ~_

~ The funeral procession back to the house, was a long one. The little chapel by Blue Rivers was small, and the memorial service for Arthur Bradford was held in the quite church yard where they buried an empty casket next to all of the late Bradford family members.

Ariadne had been surprised there were so many people who waited outside of the service. The chapel not able to hold all of the people who wanted to pay their respects.

Olivia, an unwieldy toddler now, kept trying to pull her mother's black mourning veil off. All the ladies weeping at what a shame it was to have a such a young widow.

"With a babe in arms, no less." she heard one of the old biddies whisper. "She won't know what to do."

That much was true, Ariadne had no idea what to do now. Mr. Cobb had arrived to Blue Rivers just the day before. He wanted to be at the memorial service for his old friend. Even though there was no body to bury.

"I can't tell you how sorry I am, Ariadne." Cobb whispered as the family and servants walked back to the house after the burial. Eames was in the lead of the procession with Phillipa clutching tightly to his hand.

The little girl, already an orphan, had taken the loss of Arthur hard. Harder than Ariadne had thought possible. She had once more gone into her shell and refused to talk.

Lady Percy was still indisposed and remained at the house.

Ariadne and Cobb found themselves walking at the back of the procession. The servants even walking ahead of them.  
"Cobb, are you sure there is nothing you can do about the entail?" she asked looking worriedly at the broad shoulders of Mr. Eames.  
Cobb shook his head.  
"Nothing. I'm afraid you're very limited in funds." he whispered. "His life insurance was only $10,000. Also, that might be called into dispute as apart of the entail if Mr. Eames wishes it." Cobb told her.  
"So I'm penniless and at his mercy?" Ariadne said. "I refuse to believe Arthur would have let this happen."

"I don't think Arthur was planning on dieing." Cobb said gently.

~ They reached the elegant house. Olivia had fallen asleep on the long walk back. Ariadne received many sympathetic looks from the servants as everyone gathered in the main hall.

She wished everyone would just forget all this mourning and go back to normal. She was uncomfortable in her black dress and Olivia had pulled her mourning veil loose.

She felt just as ridiculous as she did on her wedding day. That overly done hat perched on her head as she tried to look grown up.

"Thank you so much for showing your support of my dear cousin Arthur." Eames said to the staff who all sniffled and cast little looks to the widow and baby who would never know her father.

Ariadne shifted as she caught sight of Maura. The poor girl looked ready to die from all the crying. Even Maggie looked sad, although she hardly knew Arthur. James was standing in front of his mother. His little face pulled into a frown.

"I want each of you to know that life at Blue Rivers will go on. Not exactly as it has before. But we will endure. Tomorrow, the sun will rise and it will rise the next the next day to. We will be a different house, that much is sure, but we will carry on. We've dealt with the tragic loss of my other cousins on board the _Titanic_. Ours is a family that is no stranger to tragedy. Hopefully, this will be the end of tragedy and the start of better times." Eames said.

Ariadne looked at her friend. How different he was after Arthur's death on the _Empress_. He had taken charge of all the details. Hired the lawyers, alerted Mr. Cobb. Had him declared dead and made the arrangements. Gone was the arrogant playboy that she had called her friend.

She didn't know who this man was now.

"Sir, you've had a telegram arrive for you." Miles reminded Eames after the servants left.

Ariadne had kept away from her friend ever since he declared Arthur dead. Eames kept wanting to talk to her. To make her understand why he had done what he had done.

"What now?" Eames grumbled as Ariadne turned to Cobb and tried to think of polite conversation. She didn't want to be alone with Eames just now.

Cobb seemed to understand and ran a hand over her arm.  
"I'll stay as long as you need. If you want to go back to America, you and Olivia are welcome in my home." he whispered.

"Will this madness ever end?" Eames said harshly.

Ariadne turned back to her friend.

Phillipa looking up at the new man of the house nervously.

Eames looked annoyed and, truthfully, a little scared.  
"What is it?" Ariadne asked. "What's happened?"

Maybe it was a mistake. Could Arthur really be alive? Maybe there was a mix up on the rescue ship and he was coming home.

Eames turned to her a helpless frightened look was on his face Ariadne had never seen before. Not even when he was in Fischer's charity hospital, did he look so lost.  
"My mother is coming to visit." he said.


	2. Chapter 2

2.

~ "Juniper Eames is coming here?" Ariadne questioned as Eames looked over the telegram.

Eames shook his head.  
"She promised she would leave me in peace. Swore up and down that she hated the country and she would never return." he said reading over the telegram as a maid took Phillipa to her nursery and Cobb followed them into their conservatory.

Ariadne pulled her mourning veil off. She felt like a child playing dress up in it anyway.

Olivia was still nestled comfortably in her arms as Eames fumed.  
"Why is she coming here?" Ariadne asked.

She had only heard about Eames' mother.

Juniper was the rouge daughter of the former Lord Bradford, Lady Percy's brother. She had married below her station and had traveled all over the world with her journalist husband. Born a female, she was not in line for the title, no was her only child, Eames. Thus it was, Arthur received the title after the _Titanic_ took Juniper's brother and nephew.

Eames scanned the telegram.  
"She want's to meet you." he said looking worriedly at Ariadne.  
"Me?" Ariadne gasped in horror. "Why me?"

She tossed her widows veil on the retain sofa as Cobb sat down at their writing table.

It felt odd to have Cobb intrude into their world. The conservatory was always their retreat. It's the place they hid out in when Arthur was busy with work or the weather kept them indoors. The servants respected their privacy and left them alone to write all day sometimes.

"I may have told mother a little about you." Eames confessed.  
"Such as?" Ariadne snapped.  
"No reason to panic. She's only coming for a short visit." he assured.  
"She's coming all the way from India to England for a short visit. No one travels halfway around the globe for a short visit." she snapped at him.

"I'm sure she won't stay any longer than a year or two." Eames told her.

~ It still didn't feel right to not have Arthur in the bedroom with her at night. True, he had been gone a few months in America. But Ariadne still expected him to come through the door at any moment.

To keep her company, she had Olivia's crib placed by her bed. It was too lonely in her room otherwise.

She listened to her daughter breathing. The infant deeply in the land of dreams as she imagined Arthur coming home.  
_"Sorry, I'm so late, Madam." he snarled. Her convenient husband bursting through the door without knocking.  
"Arthur, do you have any idea how worried I've been? We even had a funereal for you and everything! Now, how will it look: you turning up alive?" she scolded.  
"Sorry to inconvenience you, Madam." he said harshly as he shrugged off his jacket and let it fall to the floor. "But I've had a rather difficult sea voyage. Then I come home to find my loving wife has buried me." _

"_Don't toss your things on the floor!" she snapped at him. "You know how I hate that!" _

"_Once again, I'm sorry, Madam." he said with a certain mockery in his voice. _

_ She straitened up and smiled at him.  
"I must admit, I'm glad you're home." she said as she put his coat in the closet. _

"_It's nice to be missed." he said with an impish grin. "How's the little one?" he asked nodding to Olivia's crib. "She's sleeping with us now?" _

"_Just for now. I was lonely." Ariadne told him. _

"_So, no sleeping with Mr. Eames while I was gone?" Arthur asked.  
"Arthur." she scolded. "What ideas you have."  
"Just because, I know how he feels about you." he told her.  
"Well, there is no reason to worry." she told him.  
Arthur looked pleased as she gave him a shy smile.  
"Maybe we can get back to our little... project we were working on before I left." he whispered in her ear and she giggled. _

"_Oh, yes. Our project has been most neglected." she agreed. _

Ariadne was suddenly seized with a horrible pain in her body.

She knew then, she would never see Arthur again. She would never feel his hands on her body, or the warmth of his kiss, or the elation of his lovemaking. He was gone. His body was cold and lost in the sea, never to be found.

She went to his wardrobe and carefully unlocked it.

Arthur's winter clothing still hung neatly in a row. His formal wear and his shirts were all lined up.

She gently touched the fabrics. Ran a hand over the fine seems of the dinner jacket. She could smell his aftershave still clinging to them. His distinctive masculine scent that made his face flash before her.

"Oh Arthur." she cried as she buried her face in the coat and sank to the bottom of the wardrobe.

~ She had no idea how long she sat there. Breathing in the smell of Arthur's clothing. His coat was warm and she could almost pretend it was her husband holding her. She could lie to herself. Pretend he was there with her.

It was a nice fantasy. The two of them sitting at the bottom of his wardrobe like children. Him holding her and saying all the right things.

"Ariadne?" came a voice.

She looked up to see Eames had let himself into her room.

She suddenly felt very foolish. Her late husbands clothing wrapped around her like a bird building a nest.  
"I knocked but you didn't answer. I heard you crying." Eames said as he gently removed Arthur's coat off her.

Ariadne sniffed and straitened up.

"I didn't hear you." she said feebly.

"I've been worried about you." he told her as her friend looked at Olivia sleeping in her crib.  
"Well Eames, I buried my husband today." Ariadne said bitterly.

"I know that. I know... that I'm not exactly number one with you either just now." he said as he helped her step out of the wardrobe.

She ran her hands over her long hair and realized she was in nothing but her night gown. She was always finding herself indisposed with Eames.  
"Why would I be upset with you?" she said as she searched for her robe and realized her thin summer night dress must have done little to conceal her naked body underneath.

She located her robe and was quick to cover herself.

She glared daggers at Eames who looked helplessly lost.

"Just because you had my husband declared dead." she added waspishly.

"After a month with no word. Even his insurance company declared him lost." he told her. "I had to do it. We had to move on with our lives."

Ariadne ran a hand over her face.

He was right of course. She hated it when Eames was right.

"We wanted to have a baby, Eames." She said softly. "We were hoping for a new edition. He wanted me to have good news for him." she sniffed slightly. "He wanted me to have good news for him before he left for America. Now, I have nothing that was his. I don't have his child to keep his memory alive. Soon, he'll be forgotten."

"You have Olivia. I know she wasn't really his." he sighed as they looked at the sleeping infant. "But, she was his all the same."

"I know." she said sadly. "You know, he didn't want me to fall pregnant again because he was worried the birth would kill me. He was so afraid after Olivia was born."

"I don't blame him." Eames said as they sat on the edge of her bed and watched Olivia sleeping. "I was scared you were planning to go through that again to. It's one thing I don't envy women of. The whole task of child bearing if a messy business."

"You have no idea." Ariadne laughed.  
"I don't want to know. I saw plenty of it in the London hospital." he told her. "We're just lucky our girl here was born healthy and you recovered."

They said nothing as they watched Olivia sleeping.  
"Ariadne." Eames said.  
She looked back at him.  
"The entail... I don't want you to worry." he whispered. "I'll always take care of you."

She didn't say anything, only watched her daughter stir in her sleep.  
"I told you before that you and Olivia can live here till you're both gray haired old ladies. Arthur's money is your money as far as I'm concerned." he told her.  
"But the entail means you can't give me control of his holdings and assets." Ariadne sighed.  
"I'm afraid not." Eames said. "I know it's not right to take his money, his life's work, away from his widow. But I would never cast you and Olivia out."

She looked at him. She could feel his breath on her neck.  
"No matter what happens between us, I'll look after you and Olivia." he whispered.


	3. Chapter 3

3.

~ "Eames, you never talk about your mother." Ariadne said the next morning as they hid themselves away in their conservatory. Ariadne shifted uncomfortably in her second black dress. Society dictated she wear black for at least a year with the passing of her husband.

Eames was luckier, he only had to wear a black arm band that Maggie sewed for him.

"It's because I hardly remembered her." Eames sighed. I was born here in Blue Rivers. But when I was four, my mother and father took me to Pondicherry, India. We lived there till I was twelve. Then I took my place at Eton. I didn't see her again until after I graduated from University. By then, father had passed and mother was busy with her social obligations."

"You spent your summers here at Blue Rivers? Never going back to India for your holidays?" Ariadne asked in surprise. She didn't understand the reasoning behind sending children away. She couldn't live one second without Olivia.

Even now, the toddler was with her, fearlessly trying to walk around the conservatory. Ariadne was glad that the servants had erected a wooden expandable fence that kept the baby from roaming too far.  
"Yes well, mother wasn't exactly cut out for motherhood the way you were." Eames said.

Ariadne felt the first smile since Arthur's death flight over her face.

"It wasn't all bad. Aunt Percy was mad for me. So was my Aunt and Uncle. They were more like my parents than anything else." Eames told her.

"And now they're all gone." Ariadne sighed. She had never realized how Eames' family was slowly slipping away. His father, his aunt, his uncle and nephew, Lady Percy with her dementia, and now Arthur.

Eames said nothing as they watched Olivia try to knock down the wooden baby gate.

"Why does she want to meet me so badly?" Ariadne said feeling her corset was too tight. She would have to speak to Maura about taking these horrid black dresses out.

"I may have written to her about you. Sent her a few of your stories." Eames said innocently.  
"What?" Ariadne asked suddenly very interested. "Why would you do that?"

"I was proud of my friend." Eames said with a shrug.  
"Did you tell her about Olivia, the truth I mean?" Ariadne asked.  
"That my long lost cousin had married a wonderful girl and had a beautiful daughter? Yes, I told her that." Eames said with his annoying smirk.  
"Eames, you know what I mean." Ariadne sighed.

"I told you, I would never tell another soul about my suspicious, and I won't." Eames said.

~ It was less than a week later, the the fabled Juniper Eames had decided to return to Blue Rivers.

Ariadne had the staff prepare rooms for her and asked Eames if she should assign on of the maids to be her attendant.  
"Mother will bring her own ladies maid." Eames said as he tried for the hundredth time to tie a proper neck tie.  
"Let me." Ariadne told him as they both felt the rush and excitement of the woman's arrival today.

With expert ease, she tied Eames' collar down the same way she always did Arthur's

However, the effect looked drastically different. Arthur looked put together and dapper with a full on suit, Eames just looked uncomfortable.

"Here." Ariadne said as she tried not to laugh.

She loosened Eames' tie and unbuttoned the first button of the collar.

"Much more me." Eames said with a smile. "I could hire you to be my valet."

"I did this for Arthur all the time. Put out his clothes; made sure he looked alright before he left for the library or wherever. It's nice to have someone to take care of." she said sadly.

"It's nice to be taken care of." Eames assured her as he looked dashingly handsome at last.

~ The motor car had gone to retrieve Lady Juniper and returned, over loaded, with traveling trunks and two women stuffed in the back.

"She's moving in?" Ariadne whispered to her friend as Olivia fussed to be put down.

"She's not moving in." Eames said worriedly as he counted ten large steamer trunks.

"Eames, she has more luggage than Arthur and I put together." Ariadne said out of the side of her mouth.  
"She's not moving in. She can't be moving in." Eames laughed nervously.

Miles went to greet their guests and pulled out first a pale, slender ladies maid. She looked over the house with large, dark blue eyes before finally glancing at Ariadne and Eames.

Ariadne felt perfectly out of place and common next to this regal beauty. Even for a ladies maid, the woman looked more put together than Ariadne felt.

It didn't help she was in an ill fitting black dress with a fussy infant in her arms.  
"Charles!" Lady Juniper cried as Miles helped her out of the car.

Ariadne looked at her friend who had turned red.  
"_Charles?_" Ariadne whispered.  
"She's the only one who calls me that." Eames said.  
"All this time, I thought Eames was your only name." Ariadne said.

Eames glanced at her as she tried not to smile.  
"Don't." he warned and tried not to smile back.  
"Don't what?" she asked innocently. _"Charles?"_ she added with husky flourish.  
"Oh Charles!" came Juniper as she finally reached them. "How I've missed you!"

Eames looked embarrassed as the great lady kissed him on the cheeks, ran a hand over his dinner jacket and looked him over.

Ariadne took the time to examine Juniper.

She was Eames' height and had his coloring. Her hair a sandy mane of tight ringlets that she greatly envied. Juniper wore fashionable clothing and carried a certain high born style that reminded Ariadne of her own mother.  
'_God, I hope she's not as bad as mother. She might be another Lady Percy for all we know._' she thought as Eames' mother finally stopped preening over her only son and noticed Ariadne.  
"Mother, this is Lady Ariadne Bradford." Eames said.

"A recent widow to, how dreadful." Juniper said as she looked over Ariadne worryingly. "Charles wrote to me about the _Empress_. I have been without my husband for over a decade now and it never gets any easier."

Ariadne relaxed at hearing this. Juniper, born of nobility promised in no way to be like her own mother or Lady Percy.

"My dear, though you have no relations here at Blue Rivers, I hope you will not consider returning to America. I hear it's perfectly beastly there. All the industry, all the immigrants! I don't think I would sleep at night knowing you are far away from the people who care about you." Juniper said as they walked into the house.

"Arthur and I were talking about going back to America." Ariadne told her as Olivia tried to grab Juniper's feathery hat.

"Because of the war." Ariadne clarified as Juniper seemed distracted by the baby.  
"All the more reason for you to stay at Blue Rivers. If there is a war, the family as well as the country will need you." she said.

She looked over Olivia then. Tears brimming in her eyes.  
"Oh, Charles, you never told me our little Olivia was such a beauty. She looks like you're great Aunt Flora. Don't you think?" Juniper said.  
"I suppose." Eames grumbled. "Mother, how long were you planning on staying?"

"Why indefinitely. My son is the lord of this house and it is just as much my home as anyones. I was born here same as the dragon lady herself." Juniper said still staring at Olivia.

"I thought you hated the country." Eames said uncomfortably.  
"Nonsense." Juniper said. "Ariadne, may I hold her? Only, I was only ever blessed with Charles and I've longed to hold a baby again. Yours is the finest one I've ever seen."

"Oh." Ariadne said in surprise as Olivia kicked to be let down. "Of course."

She wasn't used to anyone but herself, Maura, Arthur and Eames holding Olivia. These were the people she trusted to care for the thing she loved most.  
Juniper took her easily in her arms and Olivia quickly tried to grab the lady's heavily adorned hat again.  
"Oh, Charles, she's so perfect. Olivia, your aunt Juniper has brought you presents from the far East and you'll be the most spoiled child in all the county." the lady promised as they adjourned to Lady Percy's parlor.  
"Sorry about that." Eames muttered as Juniper talked baby talk to Olivia.  
"It's alright, _Charles_." Ariadne said with a giggle.


	4. Chapter 4

4.

~ "First thing to be done, is get rid of the old dragon's loathsome portrait up there." Lady Juniper said as the party entered the parlor that had once been home to Lady Percy.  
"Mother, Aunt Percy is not dead. She's merely been ill." Eames said as his mother examined the furnishings.  
"You've told me she is not herself and is expected to pass on at any time. There is no reason for her to occupy her downstairs parlor when she has her rooms upstairs. Besides, I'll need it for my own purposes." Juniper said as she let Olivia down and the toddler tired to escape the room.

Ariadne was quick to pull her back in.  
"Mother, Aunt Percy may recover." Eames insisted.  
"Charles, I make no apologies for despising that woman or her dreadful friend Mrs. Abbot." Lady Juniper spat. "I want that painting taken down and this parlor refitted for my own use."

"Mrs. Abbot was dismissed over a year ago." Ariadne told her meekly.

The memory of that vial woman and what she had done still hurt Ariadne dreadfully.  
"Well, that's good news." Juniper said. "How is the rest of the staff getting on?"

"Very well." Ariadne told her.  
"I'll need a complete roster of the servants and their duties to review. I may need to bring in my own staff aside from my ladies maid Mal." Juniper told her.

Ariadne looked at Eames in shock.

"Lady Juniper, I run this house. I'm the one who hires and dissmisses people." Ariadne clarified.  
Juniper looked slightly uncomfortable. She looked at Eames who said nothing.  
"Eames?" Ariadne said. She expected her friend to back her up.

"Ariadne, when your dear husband was alive, he was lord of this house. As his lady, it was fitting and proper that you handle the staff and assignment of rooms. With you dear husband gone, however, and no wife as yet for Charles, it is only appropriate that I take over the house.  
"Eames?" Ariadne gasped in horror.  
"Mother, Ariadne has run things here very well." Eames said calmly. "You benn away over 30 years."

"Charles, Ariadne has a baby to deal with, not to mention the herculean task of finding a new husband. She can not be burdened with a house and it's myriad of duties." Juniper argued.  
"New husband?" Ariadne questioned.  
"I, however, was raised to run a house like this. Am I really to understand our late cousin Arthur operated with no valet and decommissioned the horses?" Juniper questioned.  
"Yes, mother. Arthur brought Blue Rivers into the 20th century." Eames sighed and sat down.  
"My husband also paid off all of Blue Rivers debts. Including a very generous living allowance for you." Ariadne snapped.  
Juniper turned to Ariadne.  
"Charles, I was hoping we could speak for an hour or two alone." she said at last.

Eames looked at Ariadne wearily.  
"Fine!" Ariadne huffed and picked up Olivia. "Fine, fine... _fine_." she said as she stormed out of the lady of the house's parlor.

"Mother that was rude." Eames said.  
"She is an attractive enough girl. Still very young. Even with a baby, she will surely find a husband. The one who I have to worry about it you." Juniper said sitting primly next to her son.  
"Mother, I'm fine."

"Charles, you are 33 years old and never married. You never even went to the debutantes seasons after your schooling was done. You need to find a wife and produce an heir." the lady said worriedly.

"Mother, I'm _35_, and did it ever occur to you that I may not _want_ to get married?" Eames said.

Juniper scoffed.  
"Charles, what you want is not the issue." she said. "It's about the family now. When my brother was alive he married and produced an heir. Now that he and Simon are lost, as well as Arthur, you are the only male in the family."

"That's debatable." Eames said.  
"What do you mean?" Juniper asked.

"Uncle had an affair with one of the house maids. She had his son. She and the boy still live here. Arthur hired her as a day maid." Eames told her.  
"Who told you this lie?" Juniper asked.  
"Ariadne. And I doubt it's a lie." Eames said.  
"Then this house maid must be dismissed before she makes a claim to the title. Has there been any acknowledgment of paternity?" Juniper asked.  
"Not that I know of. Uncle cast her out, but Aunt Percy sent her money each month for years. Then Arthur hired her back." Eames said.

"She must be packed up at once and told to leave. I won't have my brother's memory disgraced like this. We had a lucky break with our cousin Arthur and all his money. If all we have to put up with is his widow, then we are very lucky. I will make it my mission to introduce her to the finest of gentlemen in the country and find her a good match." Juniper said.

Eames shifted uncomfortably.  
"I'm not certain Ariadne wants to be remarried." he said.  
"Every girl wants to be married." Juniper snapped.

"Mother, I've told Ariadne she and Olivia can stay here for the rest of their lives and I intend to honor that. They have nowhere else to go and, because of the entail, they are penniless." Eames said.  
"All the more reason to marry her off and have her settled. She's young and very pretty. Some widower Duke will snap her up in no time. Until then, we must make you presentable. We will hold a party and find you a wife. The new season of debutantes is out." Juniper instructed.  
"Mother, I'm too old to marry some silly girl barley out of her teens who knows nothing about men and their needs."

"Charles!" Juniper gasped. "I had hoped schooling and being in a proper home would have taken some of this lustful nature out of you. I can see you are just as depraved as your father."

"Well, you married him." Eames chuckled.

~ Ariadne sat on the nursery floor with Olivia.

She held out the framed picture of Arthur for the baby to see.  
"Dada." Ariadne coached the infant as Olivia stared at her mother.  
"Can you say: Dada?" Ariadne pleaded as she held the picture of her late husband in front of her.  
The baby seemed more interested in the frame and her mother than the photograph inside.  
"Ariadne." Cobb said soothingly.  
"I want her to know who her father is. It's what Arthur would have wanted." Ariadne snapped at him.

"I know it's what Arthur would have wanted, but she's just a baby." Cobb said as he watched them from his seat.  
"I know she's just a baby. She won't even remember how much he loved her." Ariadne said sadly.  
"She'll have to rely on us to tell her." Cobb said hopefully.  
"Cobb, you should have seen Eames' mother. Already taking command of the house and staff. Talking about marrying me off to the first suitor that she can find." Ariadne put the photograph down and looked at Olivia. "She acted just like my own mother. Like I'm just a burden to be gotten rid of."

"You're not a burden. Why don't you come back to America with me?" Cobb asked.

"How would I live?" she asked as Olivia crawled in her lap. "What would I do for work? I'm not trained in anything practical. Who would take care of Olivia while I was working?"

"We could work something out." Cobb said.  
"How? In your office? I don't know how to use those new office machines. I can barely use Eames' typewriter." she laughed.  
"Well, I was thinking you could stay with me." Cobb said awkwardly.

She looked at him and he looked slightly embarrassed.  
"I'm a confirmed old bachelor. We could be married on paper only. It would let you live the life you want and you would be provided for." he offered.

"So you want to be my new convenient husband?" she teased.

Cobb looked at his hands.

"Ridicules, I know. A man my age." he laughed.  
"You know, the day I got off that train, and saw you, I hoped you were the one I was supposed to marry. But I think of you too much as a friend now." she told him. "But any woman would love to be married to you."

Cobb smiled and they were interrupted by a knock on the door.

"Come in." Ariadne called out expecting it to be Maura.

She and Cobb were surprised to see the slim, pretty ladies maid that had arrived with Juniper.  
"Pardon." The woman said in a thick accent. "I was told your ladies maid could help me prepare my mistresses evening gown for dinner tonight. How might I find her? This house is so large."

"Oh." Ariadne said as she tried to stand up with Olivia.  
"There is a pull bell beside Lady Bradford's bed." Cobb interjected as he quickly stood.

Ariadne was startled as the pair of them met each other in the eye and seemed to share a moment.

She was quick to clamp her mouth shut and watch them.  
"Oh, that will summon this... Maura person?" the ladies maid asked.  
"Yes, she should come and help you. Unless I can be of help." Cobb asked.

Ariadne wanted to burst out laughing but didn't.

The ladies maid smiled softly.

"Do you know about bead work, sir?" she said gently.  
"Cobb. It's Mr. Cobb. I was the late Lord Bradford's solicitor and friend." Cobb said with a smile.  
"I'm so sorry to hear about your loss." the maid said sympathetically as they both ignored Ariadne.

"Yes, it was tragic." Cobb said. "I didn't catch your name."

"It's Mal." she told him and blushed herself. "Can you show me how to ring the bell?" Mal asked.

"Of course," Cobb said as he showed her out of the room.  
"There are pull bells all over the house. Lady Juniper will be able to call for you from downstairs." he said as they left the room.

Ariadne held Olivia close and picked up Arthur's picture.  
"My love, I wish you had seen that." she whispered to his handsome image.

Olivia was quick to bat the frame with her pudgy hand.  
"Da!" she shrieked and Ariadne giggled.


	5. Chapter 5

5.

_~ July 29th, 1914 ~_

_~ Blue Rivers ~_

~ "Maybe I should go back to America." Ariadne said that morning as she and Eames hid from the rest of the world in their conservatory.

Her friend was scowling over the large print banner headline of the morning paper. A deep crease setting over his brow at the recent news.

**WAR DECLARED IN EUROPE**

Eames looked up at her. The past few days had been too busy for him to shave properly and he looked ruggedly unkempt.  
"What, and leave me?" he asked is disbelief.

She hung her head as her friend stared at her.

'_I wish Arthur was here. He would know just what to do. He always knew what to do._' she thought and then felt guilty.  
"What would you do in America? Where would you go?" he asked as he handed her the paper that proclaimed the news of war.  
"I... I was thinking of writing mother. Maybe, now that I'm a widow, and with the war, she would take Olivia and myself in." Ariadne said.

She failed to hide the loathing in her voice at the idea.

"Ariadne." Eames said with a deep sigh. "The same woman who called you a whore, left you destitute and forced you to marry a total stranger? That's who you want to reconcile and go live with again?"

"Eames, this country is at war." Ariadne said as she scanned over the politics she admittedly didn't understand.  
"This country has been at war before." he told her.

"Not like this." she argued.  
"So, you would leave me? Take Olivia and leave me alone with mother, Phillipa and Aunt Percy? Just have me be on my own?" he accused.

"Eames, it wouldn't be like that." she told him.  
"I intend to join up." he announced suddenly. "As an officer; I intend to go to war."

She looked at him as if she didn't understand right away.

"I thought you just wanted to photograph the war if it comes. Report on it for the magazines." she said in shock.

Eames shook his head and glared at her.  
"My country is at war. I have the chance to prove to you-" he cut himself off and looked at his hands. "To prove to _everyone_ I'm not just some spoiled playboy who no serious woman would want."

"No one thinks that." Ariadne said.

He gave her a humorless smile.  
"I've never given anyone reason to take me seriously. I'm not Arthur. I've never built anything or done anything heroic in my life." he told her sadly.  
"So the solution is to run off to war and get killed?" she asked

"I'll be an officer." he promised. "They tend to live."

"Eames, you don't have to do this. You're the only son of a respectable family. You can find war work here at Blue Rivers." Ariadne said.

Eames shook his head.  
"My place is on the battle field." he told her.  
"Arthur wouldn't have joined up." Ariadne said suddenly. "If that's what your thinking."

Eames looked at her coldly.  
"He had no plans to involve us in any war. He wanted to protect his family by keeping us safe. Now, you want to leave us?" she accused.

He gave a little shrug.  
"You wanted to leave me first, darling." he said waspishly.

~ "The war changes little, Charles." Juniper said as the two footmen finally got around to removing Lady Percy's large portrait from over the mantle in her former parlor.  
"You really taking that down?" Eames asked at the portrait uncovered a large clean spot in the wallpaper.

Lady Juniper sighed.  
"I'll have to re-paper everything." she said hatefully.

"Mother." Eames said.

She turned to her son.

"Charles, the war doesn't excuse the fact you need to find a wife, and _soon_. You are middle aged already and even with your heritage and advantages, it will be difficult finding you a suitable partner. She will need to be young enough to provide the family with an heir and mature enough to become lady of this house." Juniper explained as Mal brought out wall paper samples.  
"Mother, I've already explained to you I don't want to marry one of those silly society girls." Eames said darkly as they seemed to be having this conversation with the servants around.  
"This one." Juniper said pointing to a brightly colored print of yellow and pink roses.

She turned on her son like a wild animal.  
"Charles, you will listen to me. I do not care what you want. You will attend the summer party at the Gardeners and you will meet the seasons debutants. Many of whom have made the trip from Town especially to meet you. You will get married before the year is out and as for this talk of going to war, that will not happen. You are hardly the man your father was. You were always a troublesome, ill behaved boy who's reputation with women serves us a great hindrance. Money and position have mended those handicaps and you will take advantage."

She stood up stiffly as her son looked away from her.  
"Charles, I'm not a fool. I know you have feelings for Ariadne." she said more gently.

He looked at his mother in mild surprise.  
Juniper shrugged.  
"Darling boy, you are not the man for her and she is not the woman for you. You need a strong wife. A woman who can run this house, keep everything above scandal and make you and this family respectable again. Ariadne is not that girl." his mother said softly "You have told me how head strong she can be. That is not who we need in this house."

"What happened to you, mother?" he asked. "You used to be just like Ariadne. You gave up you inheritance to marry a poor newspaper man because you were in love."

Juniper rolled her eyes.  
"Yes, and we lived for years in poverty before you born. I lost two children because of how we lived and when the family took us back it was a relief." she snapped. "I loved your father. But a marriage based on loved alone is not enough. Ariadne is still a foolish girl. You need someone sensible, darling." she cooed.

Juniper ran a hand over her sons collar and straitened his tie.  
"I promised you, I will find a good match for her. Someone who will keep her in check and provide for her. If you two matched up, you would both be running around in your own fantasy worlds. You know that." Juniper said gently.

Eames found himself nodding. His mother's voice almost seductive as he couldn't deny what she said.

"Mother, I'll meet some silly girls if you want. If Ariadne wishes to re-marry, I won't stand in her way. But I'll marry whom I choose, when I choose, ifI choose, and I'm going to war." he said and pulled away from his mother's claw like hands.

He was about to leave the parlor, before turning around.

"I am lord of this house, am I not?" he asked her.

~ "Where's Olivia?" Ariadne said with a laugh as she pretended to search for the baby hiding behind a large potted plant.

It was a cheerful summer day, despite news of war, the weather was too perfect not to enjoy it. The grounds keepers had thrown open the large doors to the conservatory and were replanting some of the late summer flowers.

The conservatory was suddenly filled with fresh air and the rotation of new plants as Olivia decided to play hide and seek.  
"Olivia?" Ariadne called as her daughter hid her face behind a large green leaf. Innocently thinking this hid all of her.  
"Where's my Olivia?" Ariadne called and pretended not to see her.

The baby let out a giggle as she threw the plant leaf aside and her mother gasped at the sudden appearance.  
"There she is!" Ariadne called and the baby laughed harder and hid behind the plant leaf again.

"Oh no! Where did Olivia go?" Ariadne asked loudly. "I don't see her anywhere!"

The baby was giggling uncontrollably when they were interrupted by Juniper.  
"They are so much fun when they are that age." she said and Ariadne felt her heart jump.

Once more, she wasn't used to the invasion of an outsider into her world. The conservatory was sacred for her and Eames alone. Sometimes Phillipa and Olivia would come, but only if they were invited. No one ever intruded into their haven without permission.  
"Juniper." Ariadne said as Olivia was still wanting to play hide a seek with a partner no longer interested.

"I just wanted to see how you're getting on, dear." Juniper said. "I'm sure all this talk of war must be stressful right after your loss."

"Oh." Ariadne said pulling herself off the floor of the conservatory and dusting her dress off. How silly she must look just now. Sitting on the brick floor of the conservatory playing with her baby.

"I'm fine." Ariadne said smoothing out her hair. "I suppose Eames has told you about his plans."

"Charles will change his mind, darling. He gets excited about one idea and then abandons them when something else catches his eye. He's really just a boy pretending to be a man. That's what I came to talk to you about." Juniper explained as they sat on the lounge.

Ariadne felt that same uneasy feeling she had when Mrs. Abbot or Lady Percy was about to do something awful.

"Charles isn't like your late husband, darling." Juniper started to say. "He's not practical or particularly hard working. He does what he wants and has never cared about the consequences."

Ariadne said nothing as Olivia tried to catch her interest with the leaf.  
"Now up until now, his previous behavior and indiscretions, have not been a problem. He wasn't in line for the title, and he was single. But all of that changed with Arthur's passing. Now, he must behave like a man." Juniper went on. "I know part of it is my fault, all the trouble he got in with women over the years."

"Trouble?" Ariadne asked taking the bait so readily.  
"Oh yes." Juniper gave an exhausted sigh. "I used to receive letters and telegrams from his school, not to mention the parents of the girls he had deflowered. I know young men like to sow their wild oats so to speak, but our family has had to pay off quite a few of Charles little love affairs that ended with a girl in trouble."

Ariadne sat up.  
"Eames got a girl in trouble. She had his baby?" Ariadne asked.

Juniper gave an indifferent shrug.  
"More than one, if truth be known. Monstrous I know, but that needs to be in his past. No matter how many children he may have fathered with maids and school girls, he needs a proper wife. One who will control him and give him a legitimate heir." Juniper said.

She looked at Ariadne adoringly.

"Now, you are a lovely girl. The two of you are very good friends. But as a couple, you can see how it won't work, darling. You need another husband like your dear Arthur. A man who is steady, who will take you by the hand and keep you from straying off the path of being a good wife and mother. Arthur was an excellent match for you. I will try and find another man like him to fill that void. You're so very lovely and you have a beautiful little girl. I can find you a husband who will suit." Juniper said imploringly.

Ariadne pulled away as Juniper looked humble and oh so helpful.  
"Your match is not my son, Ariadne. You can do much better. He is a lustful man who will satisfy you in bed surely, but who will run around with the maid the next day and one of your friends the day after that. Men like him are not loyal. You know that." Juniper added as Ariadne hid her tears.


	6. Chapter 6

**Part II**

**Like Spoiled, Little Children**

1.

~ Ariadne rifled trough her clothes. She was filled with a new idea. It had taken hold in her mind and wouldn't let her go.

"Damn corsets!" she fumed as Olivia happily played with her mother's lacy handkerchiefs on the floor.

"Missus?" Maura said carefully coming into the room. "Whats happened?"

"Maura, I'm glad you're here. I want you to take out my dresses some more. I don't want to wear corsets. In fact, there is no need for these mourning dresses either." she said.

"Oh, Missus!" Maura exclaimed. "Are you not well?" she asked.  
"Maura, I'm perfectly fine." Ariadne told her as she pulled her black mourning dresses out of the wardrobe and flung them on the bed.  
"I want my dresses let out enough so I don't have to wear corsets. Just look at these new fashions in Paris." Ariadne instructed as she showed Maura the magazine sketches of an overly slender girl in a long solid color skirt and a simple blouse. "Much more sensible, don't you think? Why some are even wearing pants now!" Ariadne prompted.

"But Missus, you're in mourning still." Maura said with great shock.

"I want Maggie to go to town and select some new material for me." Ariadne told her as she looked with disgust at her old dresses. Her hand stopping over the plum colored beaded dress Arthur had bought her to wear on the _Mauritania_. She passed that dress over as well as a few other she knew he liked her in. They would be spared her wrath.

"A dark green; maybe a nice blue." Ariadne told her. "I want the blouse to be comfortable and functional."

"Missus, you're still in mourning, It's not seemly." her maid implored.

"Maura." Ariadne said coldly. "Have Maggie take out these dresses so I don't have to wear a corset; do as I asked."

Maura eyes went wide as Ariadne started ripping up the black dress she had worn when she buried Arthur. Her sewing scissors cutting up the seams that were so uncomfortable.

"What's going on here?" came a voice from the hall.

"Oh, Mr. Eames, she's gone mad! Ripping up her dresses and talking about dressing without proper under garments on! I don't know what to do, sir!" Maura cried helplessly.  
"Maura, take Olivia for her nap." Eames said soothingly.

"Oh yes, sir." Maura cried and neatly set down the dresses Ariadne had already cut the seams out of.

She quickly picked Olivia up and dashed out of the room.

Eames watched the show of Ariadne ripping a large black ribbon out of the funeral dress before clearing his throat.  
"Go away, Eames." she snapped at him.

"Ariadne, what are you doing?" he asked kindly.  
"I want my dresses let out. I'm sick of wearing corsets. Why does everyone question that?" she said and tossed the funeral dress to the floor, stepped on it a few times and took her large sewing scissors to the next black dress.

Eames just watched her.  
"Actually, I have no problem with any woman not wanting to wear a certain item of under clothing. You ladies wear far too much as it is." he observed.

Ariadne's dark hair had fallen over her face as she ripped the seams out of another hated black dress and cut the beaded bodice off.

"I'm sure..." she panted as she ripped the black material up. "You don't have a problem with women not wearing _any_ clothes. You're reputation proceeds you, sir."

"My reputation?" Eames asked humorlessly as she started on another black dress. Her scissors flashing in the light as she angrily cut the fabric.

"Yes, your reputation. All you philandering at school and beyond. All the girls you made conquests out of. Got into trouble, and then abandoned. As long as you had your fun, right? Who cares if they were heart broken, penniless and left to rot in some poor house. As long as you-" she tore up the back dress beyond repair. "Had. Your. Fun." she said and threw her last black dress to the floor.

"Who told you all this?" Eames asked her.  
"Doesn't matter." Ariadne said. "It's true. We both know what kind of man you are. You're no better than Jeffery. I didn't want to see you for what you are. You use women, I know you do and I ignored it. I'm still a fool." she said manically as she looked down the dress she was wearing and started to cut at the seams with her scissors. The flash of the blades looking like she would stab herself at any moment.  
"Ariadne." Eames said worriedly as she tore the bodice up with the scissors and almost cut her flesh.  
"Ariadne! Stop it!" Eames shouted.

At his loud words, she waved her scissors at him like a knife.

"Am I a conquest, Eames?" she spat at him. "That day in the pond. That was just you proving you could have any girl you wanted, right? Even a married woman? You wanted to prove you could seduce any girl you pleased no matter who she was married to. That's why you had Fischer call only me to come get you. You wanted proof I cared about you. Proof you had made me love you." she hissed.  
"Put down the scissors." he ordered her sternly.  
"I'm not staying here in your house to be you live in whore, Eames." she told him and made a stab at him with the sharp blade.

His hands, much stronger than she thought, were over hers, bending her wrist back till she screamed and dropped the scissors.

"Eames!" she cried as he pulled her roughly to the bed and forced her to lay on her back.

He was over her in a second, before she could stop him or cry out again. His heavy, well toned body was pinning her hands over her head as he looked over her with his manic, glinting eyes.  
"Clam down." he order simply.

That same independence, rage or dark thread that possessed her to do stupid things when she knew better, made her struggle against this man. Try to fight him off her as he almost lazily pinned her down more securely.  
"Ariadne, I said stop it." he said coolly.

She glared at him as he held her arms down on the mattress, the fight suddenly leaving her as her breathing took on a different rhythm.

She watched his eyes move over her ripped up dress. The bodice loosened from the fabric she had cut off. Her chest swelling out as her back arched slightly.

Eames easily secured both her hands in his as he carelessly and rudely ripped the bodice off her dress.

Ariadne was too shocked to protest. She didn't utter a cry or demand for him to stop as he exposed her bare breasts.

She was breathing hard as she feebly tried to wiggle free. His hungry eyes darting over her face and back to her breasts again.  
"Still so beautiful." he muttered as his lips made contact with her nipple.

Ariadne gasped as he sucked her delicate breast hard enough to take the milk she had already stopped producing for Olivia.

"Eames!" she panted as she felt slightly dizzy.

His hands released her wrists as they cupped her breasts and his lips pulling angrily on her nipple. His facial hair scratching her skin as his cheek brushed over her breasts.

She felt an excitement stir between her legs as he sucked at her breast and wouldn't let go.  
"Eames!" she cried out and managed to push him away.

Like a broken spell, Eames jumped off her. His handsome face looked lost and confused as she covered her breasts back up protectively.

They were both breathing hard as they looked at each other. Twin images of shock on their faces.

"Ariadne." he said at last. "I'm..." he panted and put his hand to his mouth.

Ariadne could still feel his beard on the tender flash of her breast. The sensation of his facial hair on her delicate skin, made her body want to sing.

She was breathing hard as she tired to cover her bare breasts with her arm.  
"Leave." she panted at last.  
"I want to stay. You know I want to stay." he begged; out of breath.  
"LEAVE!" she screamed.


	7. Chapter 7

2.

~ "Charles." Juniper said the next afternoon. "Why haven't you or Ariadne joined me for meals today? I'm all alone at the table with Phillipa and that Mr. Cobb."

Eames slumped in the uncomfortable new sofa his mother had place in Lady Percy's old parlor. The old dragon still in her rooms with her private nurse, and kept out of sight and thus out of mind.

"Mother, I was at the war office today and Ariadne had her own affairs to attend to, I'm sure." Eames said stiffly.

He didn't like to think about Ariadne too much. After their heated moment yesterday, he had left her room barely able to fight the fire that was burning in his blood for her.

Never before had he felt so badly used by a mere female. Never before had he so violated someone he loved. His actions were inexcusable and wrong. He had exposed his friend's body to his own beast like lust. Not just his friend, but the wife of his cousin not even dead two months. Apologies would never be enough.

"Not this again." Juniper groaned. "I thought we had this war matter settled."

"We settled nothing, mother. I told you I was going to war. You chose to believe what you would." Eames said bitterly.

"Oh Charles, you were always difficult." Juniper said sadly as she looked over fabric swatches.

"Mother." Eames said curtly. "Ariadne seems to think I'm a bit of a philanderer. That I've had a checkered past with regard to women."

"And?" Juniper said innocently. Pretending great interest in a paisley pattern.  
"Did she get these notions from you?" he asked.

"What ideas you have, darling." Juniper said.  
"Mother. My dearest friend in the world hates me because of you." Eames accused.  
"Now Charles, you know that everything I said to her was nothing but the truth. You have a way with women that always gets them in trouble." Juniper said sadly. "I still have the letters from the head master about your behavior with that village girl when you were just sixteen. About the little inconvenience your father and I had to settle."

Eames felt his face burn.  
"I suppose you loved the girl, no doubt." Juniper said bitterly.  
"I did, mother. I did love Mary very much." Eames said.  
"Then there was the legion of women in London who distracted you from your studies and drained your accounts. Your father and I sent money to pay for your frivolous parties and expensive gifts for those cheap women." Juniper added. "Then there was Evangeline. Let's not forget her. Your secret elopement with her for five days that ruined the poor girl."

"You refused to let me marry her." Eames growled.  
"She was a ruined woman. A woman who ran off with a man and expected to be welcomed into our society. Your father and I had ever right to cut you off without a cent to your name after that disgrace." Juniper spat. Her eyes just as livid and mean as her sons. "Now, naturally, you've fallen in love again. Oh so conveniently, with the nice America girl who was already instilled in the house. I don't suppose you've told her about all your indiscretions; oh no. In her eyes, you're just as charming as always."

Juniper leaned in closer and hissed at him.

"Now you listen to me. You are my only child. I love you and care for you more than anything. But you will not sully your cousin's widow with your selfish desires. Why do you think I've been working so hard to get her married off and away from you? It's to protect her. To keep her from having her heart broken by a man with fickle taste and a roaming eye." she leaned closer to him. "You only love her, darling, because you can not have her. Forbidden fruit is the sweetest, but this is one prize I will not let you claim."

~ "Are you sure, missus?" Maura said as Ariadne stood on a chair and Maggie steadily pinned the hem of their mistresses new pants.

"I think they look lovely." Maggie said eagerly. "If you stand still, they flare out like a dress enough."

Ariadne smiled at her reflection in the large mirror. Maggie could work wonders with her sewing and fashioned the lady of the house pants that exposed her ankles.  
"I think they're cute." Ariadne admitted as she felt much freer with the pants on then a long dress.  
"But what will Lady Juniper say?" Maura worried.  
"I do not care what anyone says, Maura." Ariadne said with a giggle as Maggie finished the hem. "These pants, are much more practical. I can run after Olivia all day in them. And it says something besides. It says..." Ariadne thought a moment. "It says I will not be bound my mid-evil culture and social roles. I am my own woman." she said proudly.

"Oh, missus." Maura said worriedly as Maggie started fitting her mistress with a second pair.  
"Don't listen to her, your ladyship." Maggie said as she brushed a strand of red hair off her face. "With the war coming, I think all sorts of society will change."

"Exactly." Ariadne agreed.  
"Is it true Lord Eames will be going to the front? The driver said he was at the war office this morning." Maggie said as Maura worried over the less than elegant wardrobe her mistress was having made.

"He went to the war office?" Ariadne asked.  
Maggie nodded.  
"Yes, him and our two footmen as well." Maggie said. "There was a line around the building of young men going. All eager to do their bit for the war."

"Surely Lord Eames won't go to to the fighting." Maura exclaimed. "He's a grand man with noble blood."

Maggie huffed.  
"He's still a man through and through, goose." she said. "Strip him down, you'll see he's like any other man."

"Maggie." Ariadne said. A hot blush coming to her face at the thought of Mr. Eames 'stripped down'.

"Sorry your ladyship." Maggie said awkwardly.

The women were interrupted by a knock on the door. Juniper Eames let herself in with barely a whisper.  
"My, my." Juniper said looking over Ariadne's new navy colored ladies slacks. "Aren't we a vision of suffragette empowerment."

"Thank you, Lady Juniper." Ariadne said and turned back to her reflection.  
"I suppose we have you to thank, Maggie." Juniper said to the lovely red haired maid. "For making them."

"You do, your ladyship." Maggie said nervously.  
"Maggie, I must regret to tell you that you are being dismissed." Lady Juniper said curtly.  
"What?" Ariadne barked.  
"There is not to be a another word about it. It's little to do with your performance and everything to do with your personal character." Juniper said as Maggie looked shocked and heart broken.

"Juniper!" Ariadne shouted and stepped down off the chair. "You will not fire any maids my husband has personally hired!"

"Child, your husband, God rest his soul, is not the lord of this house." Juniper said stoically.  
"Neither are you!" Ariadne shouted and purposely bumped up against her as she raced out of the room.

She discovered a footman in the hall.  
"Andrew! Where is Eames?" she shouted.  
"The conservatory, madam." the footman said as the house was not used to seeing it's lady in such a rage.  
"Good." Ariadne said and raced down the servants stairs to the conservatory.

She winced in pain as a lose pin poked her and she knew she must look a fright to the servants as she stormed through the kitchens; the quickest route to the conservatory.

Lady Juniper was older, but she might just try to beat Ariadne to Eames.

~ Eames was trying to type. The words failed him at every turn. He had been throwing out page after page of black type. The words just not coming. He wanted to write about a certain subject matter, but once it was on paper, the subject suddenly bored him to tears.

'_Maybe mother was right._' he thought bitterly. '_I am to fickle_.'

"Eames!" came a harassed cry from the entrance to the conservatory. He could sense right away that it was Ariadne. Her voice distressed beyond any he had ever heard.

"Eames!" she cried out as he stood and spotted her locking the stained glass doors to the conservatory so no one else could get in.

"So we're speaking to each other again?" he asked as she rushed to their writing table.

He was slightly distracted by her outfit. He had only ever seen pants on a woman in other countries.

"What are you wearing?" he asked as she caught her breath.

"Maggie made them." she panted.  
"Well, they're adorable. Do you have a moment so I can get my camera?" he asked playfully.

"Eames, your mother wants to fire Maggie. You have to stop her. Arthur hired that poor girl himself. She has James to care for and you know the connection James has to your uncle." Ariadne panted. "Arthur wouldn't want Maggie to be fired. Please, Eames."

He looked at her for a moment.  
"You think Maggie could make me a pair of pants like that? We could go out in the village and say we're twins." he said.

"Eames!" Ariadne shouted.

The stained glass doors to the conservatory jarred as someone tried to open them.  
"Charles! Open this door!" Juniper shouted.  
"Eames, do not let Maggie be dismissed!" Ariadne ordered at the doors held against invasion.  
"Charles?" Juniper shouted through the doors.  
"Eames!" Ariadne insisted.  
"You ignore me all day, then only come find me over something you want." Eames snarled at her. "Why should I do anything for you?"

Ariadne's face fell.  
"If Maggie is dismissed, I'll take Olivia and go back to America." Ariadne threatened.  
"I'll be in his majesty's army." Eames snorted. "What do I care what you do?" he asked as Juniper tried to force open the door.  
"Charles! You open this door!" she shouted.  
"Eames if you were ever my friend, if I was ever more to you then an attempted conquest, you'll defend me." Ariadne said.

The two friends exchanged looks. For an irrational second, he wanted to walk away from Ariadne, this house, his mother and the entire race of female creatures.  
"Damn it all to hell. Too many women in this house!" he cursed. "Never thought I would miss Arthur this much!"

His voice had taken on a low growl as he stormed to the conservatory doors and unlocked them.

"Charles!" Juniper cried as she looked wind blown.  
"Mother." Eames said curtly. "You will not hire or fire any of the staff members. Is that understood? Ariadne has total say in how this house is run. You have taken over Aunt Percy's parlor, and that is where you will run you schemes from now on. Go to any party, ball or fair you like outside of this house, but do not upset the running of Blue Rivers. This is Ariadne's home now."

Juniper looked shocked.  
"_Charles!_" she gasped.  
"No more dictating how this house will be run, mother. I was very happy with the arrangements Ariadne and her late husband provided. I will grant you house room, but no extra privileges." he said.

He was about to turn back to Ariadne, back to their haven of the conservatory, when he thought of something else to say.  
"Also, in the future, you will not intrude into this conservatory. The servants stay out, and so will you. I know you want to run this house again. Forbid fruit is always to sweetest." he growled.


	8. Chapter 8

8.

~ Ariadne was trembling as Eames locked the conservatory doors, and walked back to her. His face clearly showing how distracted and troubled he was.  
"I want to talk about what happened yesterday in your room." he said as he reached their work table.

She sank into her chair as she realized she had been holding her breath and had to fight the dizzy spell she was now feeling.  
When she opened her mouth to say something, but no words came out.  
"I..." she stammered instead.

"I apologize." he said at last.

She looked up at him. The memory of his facial hair on her breast, his lips on her nipple, made her body flush hot and her skin tingle.  
"I'm sorry to." she whispered. "For how I acted. I was just... I was angry at what Juniper said."

"Mother spoke to you, about my past?" Eames asked.

She nodded.  
"We all have a past, Ariadne." he said and sat down next to her. "You know that better than anyone."

"But you know about my past. I knew nothing about yours." she pointed out.

She looked at him and screwed up her bravery.  
"Is it true? What your mother said? Did you leave a girl in a condition? Did you abandon her?" she asked. "Like Jeffery did to me?"

Eames let out a long sigh.  
"I was sixteen. I was in love with a girl named Mary." he said and gave a bitter laugh. "Mother thinks I'm a menace to women. That I'll be a menace to you." he added.

"Will you?" she asked.

Eames said nothing for a long time. His gaze fixed on some point far off in the distance.

"Mary told me, there would be a baby. We were young, but I wanted to marry her. I loved her." he admitted.

Ariadne caught her breath. She didn't want to hear anymore.  
"My Uncle found out, told my parents. My father was outraged." Eames said sadly. "My family had some doctor come and see her. He talked her into taking some kind of elixir that made her lose the baby. He convinced her that she was too young, that she would ruin me, that she would be destitute with a child to care for."

Ariadne felt light headed and had to remember to breath.  
"So, she took this elixir, a few days later, I was told she lost the baby. A boy." he added as an after thought. "Mary was alright after a few weeks of rest. My loving family paid her money to go away and never contact me again."

How could he have never mentioned this before? Especially after he knew about Jeffery. Were all men like this? Were all men as detached to their exploits? Did only women bare the pain of carnal sin?

"Were there others?" Ariadne asked. She had to know. This Mary person couldn't be the only one. She knew that just as sure as she knew she wasn't Jeffery's only lover.

"She was the only one to ever fall pregnant by me." he said darkly. "But no, my Mary wasn't the only lover I took. At University, I surrounded myself with girls who were dancers. Girls who wanted to have a good time if I paid them."

"Whores." Ariadne whispered.

Eames shrugged.  
"Some people would call them that." He said.

"Just before graduation, I met a wonderful girl I wanted to marry. Her family didn't approve of me. Rightly so. Naturally, I convinced her to elope with me. We were gone five days before they found us. By then, my Uncle said if I married Evie, I would be cut off without a cent. Like a coward, I relented. I let her go back home a soiled woman. A woman who had run off with a man for almost a week. No husband would have her then." he said sadly.

"Then, you came here." Ariadne concluded.  
"Yes, after father's death, after _Titanic _took my Uncle and Simon, I came back home to Blue Rivers. I expected my cousin Arthur to be some old relative. Then I found out he was younger than me." he said with a laugh.

He looked at Ariadne with affection.  
"Arthur came here, with money, a new car; beautiful wife on his arm who made him look like a king. I was so envious of what he had. Of everything he had." he said and looked at her.

"Why didn't you ever tell me about this? I mean, I told you about Jeffery." she whispered.  
"I don't like to think about Mary or the baby. About how I treated women before I met you." he said sadly. "A person goes crazy thinking about the past. Of what might have been."

There were words she needed to say. She was still his friend. She still cared for him and all he had done for her.

"I'm sorry, Eames." she whispered.

"Mother is right." he said sadly. "I'm not good for you. You deserve a better man. Mother can find you a husband that's good for you."

"I don't want to re-marry, Eames." she whispered and wiped a tear away.

"You need a better man than me." he said.  
"Your mother wants you to get married. She wants you to have some nice society girl here at Blue Rivers." Ariadne laughed and tried not to cry.  
"I don't want a silly girl. But I can't be here with you anymore." Eames said hatefully.  
"Eames?" she gasped.  
Her friend shook his head and refused to look at her.  
"I've always loved you, Ariadne. The day I first saw you, I loved you. I want you and, if you and I are together, it would only be a matter of time before I hurt you." he confessed.

"Eames, you said... you said Olivia and I could live here forever." she started to weep.

"You can, and that's why I'm leaving for the war." he said.  
"Eames, are you trying to kill yourself?" she asked.

He finally looked at her then.  
"Are you going to war because you want to die?" she asked again.


	9. Chapter 9

4.

~ "Now, my dear friends Lord and Lady Gardener are hosting this party at their estate and I expect you both to be the lovely and charming people I know you can be." Juniper instructed as Ariadne shifted uncomfortably in the back seat of the car next to Eames.

Since dropping her corset fashion, she had grown used to the freedom of pants and the more simple skirts Maggie had made for her. It was a job to put herself back into a corset and evening gown for this party.  
"Charles, I want you to meet a lovely young lady name Charlotte. She's the daughter of Captain Williams. Very well respected military family." Juniper added.

The awkwardness of their fight last week, had been pushed aside in preparation of this important party. One Juniper would not allow them to skip. Eames was dressed smartly, with his tie loosen and top buttons undone for comfort.  
"Mother, about that. I hardly think-" Eames tried yet again to explain how he loathed the idea of meeting silly girls.  
"Ariadne, you look lovely tonight." Juniper interrupted excitedly. I have a number of very nice men, who are recently widowed, I want you to meet. I've written to them about your situation, and they are anxious to make your acquaintanceship." Juniper said.

Ariadne rolled her eyes and wished she could lean on Eames' shoulder. They had hardly spoken since that afternoon in the conservatory. Her friend had, like always, vanished the next day in the many rooms of Blue Rivers.

"Mother, we will go home from this party when I say." Eames added as the driver pulled up to their neighbors grand house.

Ariadne felt silly as this was the first time she was meeting her neighbors, the Gardeners. Juniper said they were lovely people who had lived an hour's drive from Blue Rivers for centuries.

She looked up at the large house that rivaled her own in so many ways.  
"Tomas, Katherine!" Juniper exclaimed as an older couple met their party at the entry hallway.  
"Juniper." The gentleman of the house said stiffly. "How good of you to come."

"How was India, dear?" his equally ancient wife asked.  
"Warm. But it's so good to be home at Blue Rivers. Have you heard we had electricity installed and replaced the coachmen with two cars?" Juniper bragged.

Ariadne felt Eames clutch her hand. He knew that she longed to clarify that Arthur was the one who brought Blue Rivers into the 20th century.

"My dear friends, I want you to meet Lady Ariadne Bradford. She is the widow of Lord Arthur Bradford, who died on the _Empress of Ireland _a few months ago." Juniper said.  
"Oh dear. Yes." the older woman said. "I sent you a sympathy letter. Just dreadful a man so young. And you with a child at home."

"I received your letter, Lady Katherine. It was so kind; Olivia and I have felt so loved by this community." Ariadne said in her diplomatic voice.

She could sense Eames grinning at her in that cat like way of his.

'_Shut up, Eames!_' she said in her mind.

"Dearest, if there is anything you need, I do not want you to hesitate to ask." Lady Katherine said.  
"Right now, I was hoping to met the lovely people at your party. I was told you know excellent and respectable company." Ariadne said with her best smile.

This seemed to be just the thing to say to the older woman.  
"Come with me." she said and pulled Ariadne away from Juniper and Eames.

She looked back at her own party. Eames was glaring at her as Lady Katherine took her to a group of very nice looking men for introduction. Many of whom were already in officer's uniform. She wished she could stick her tongue out at her friend. It would have made the moment more perfect as she pulled on her fake smile for introductions.  
~ "Charles?" Juniper said as Eames hung by a boxed window seat and stealthy observed Ariadne. They had only been at this party an hour, and he was ready to go home. Ariadne was the bell of the ball, with young men surrounding her at every turn. He felt sick as he watched her smile and act gracious and kind to everyone.

Like some kind of story book princess.  
"Charles!" Juniper all but shouted at him.

Eames stood up and noticed his mother then.

He had detached himself from her company as soon as Ariadne abandoned them to meet other people. His hiding tactics didn't fool his mother who hunted him down.  
"Charles, this is Charlotte Williams." Juniper said.

Eames let out an exhausted sigh.

'_Here we go. Stupid little teenage girl who giggles and talks about weddings, flowers and decorating all evening._' he thought.

He looked at the tall, well proportioned young woman who stood next to his mother.

She hardly looked the part of the typical society girl. She wasn't timid or stupid looking. Instead, she stood taller then most girls and looked back him defiantly.

Charlotte had long black hair, dark eyes and long eye lashes. Her body was slender, but filled out in an impressive way.

She proudly stood straighter at Eames, rudely looked her up and down.

"Charlotte, my son Charles will be joining the army." Juniper said.

Charlotte wasn't impressed.

"Charming." she said lazily.

Eames sat down his drink as Juniper left them alone.  
"So, I suppose you mean to go to the front. Fight for king and country." Charlotte said as she examined him as rudely as he looked over her.

Eames was incensed.

"If you were a man, wouldn't you go fight?" he asked.  
"If I was a man, my life would be much different, Mr. Eames." Charlotte bit back.

He felt himself smile as this woman took her time in looking him over again.

~ Ariadne had finally stolen away from the crowd of very pleasant gentlemen and ladies who wanted to talk to her. All of them proclaiming how sad it was that she had lost Arthur and how she was lucky to have her little girl left.

She had escaped to a secluded spot as a small group watched a young lady play piano.  
"I was hoping to find lady Katherine, to give introductions, but I feel this is the 20th century. Let me make them myself." came a deep voice.

Ariadne turned to see a man slip into a seat next to her. His dark hair was smoothed back and his slim body looked well suited in his dress attire.

"Forgive me." he said after several seconds of awkwardness. "My name is Fredrick Hews."

"Mr. Hews. Pleased to meet you." she said. "I'm Ariadne-"

"Ariadne Bradford, yes." Mr. Hews said with a nice smile. "I had the pleasure of meeting your husband in London last year. Very sorry for your loss."

She nodded and sighed. Mr. Hews looked her in the eyes and she saw they were very blue. His good looks were only marred in fact by the dark mustache that was growing unfashionable.

Something turned over in her then. She almost never looked someone in the eyes like he did when she first met them. The whole thing was too intimate and she looked away.

"I'm only here because my friends made me come." she said and tried to pay attention to the piano player.  
"They're very nice friends, Lady Bradford." Captain Hews said.

"Perhaps." she admitted.

They sat quietly as listened to the next song.  
"Do you play at all?" Mr. Hews whispered.  
"None, sir." she felt herself blush.

"That's a shame. I would have loved to hear you play for us." he said.

Ariadne knew where this was going. She would not stand for it and knew exactly how to end Captain Hews as his charming ways.  
"My daughter, Olivia will learn to play." she said casually. "Then, I have a young ward as well. Phillipa is eager to learn an instrument."

Captain Hews nodded.  
"My son, Harold, will be three next month. I have hopes he will play the violin. All he wants to do is play in the mud." he said.

Ariadne startled and looked at the gentleman by her side. He looked casual enough.  
"Can't blame him. Playing in the mud is an excellent form of entertainment." he added.

Ariadne was confused. Why was a married man talking to her? Where was his wife? She should move. It wouldn't do to be seen talking to a married man without his wife. That was how rumors were started.

Captain Hews sat a little straighter.  
"My darling Amelia passed away when Harold was born." he explained. "I'm afraid it's been just us men since then."

~ "So, why hasn't a girl like you married yet?" Eames accused Charlotte as they wandered around the Gardeners house and subconsciously tried to find a little privacy.

"Because I don't want to." Charlotte told him.

She had a sense of entitlement about her that he hated. When he talked about the plight of the poor, Charlotte didn't listen like Ariadne. Charlotte said they chose to be that poor and they needed to work harder if they wanted more. That some people were destined to be wealthy, and if it wasn't for the lower classes, there would be no upper classes.

When he spoke of London, she was interested in shopping, not going to the poorest hospitals.

Her world was clothing, social status, parties and herself.

He didn't like this woman as a person. She was quickly proving an example of everything that was wrong with the social classes he hated. But she didn't apologize for her beliefs and he liked that about her.

She was fearless.

"Why don't you want to?" he asked.

Charlotte let out a long, bored sigh.  
"I'm perfectly happy as a single woman." she said.  
"A single woman is a joke." Eames said as they wandered into the library.

He quickly saw they were alone and closed the doors.

"You're not afraid to be alone with a man, are you?" he said as she looked over a handsome billiard table.

"Are you afraid to be alone with me?" she teased.

Eames felt his blood prickle hotly. Charlotte was selfish, rich, entitled and arrogant. But she was beautiful and challenged him.

"Tell me why a well breed woman of 26 isn't married. You're very attractive." he demanded.  
She gave a shrug.  
"Tell me why a wealthy man of 35 is still single. You're not that ugly." she said.

Eames laughed and took down a pool cue.

"Thank you." he said.

She smiled at him as he set up a break.

"In truth, I only recently came into money." he admitted.

"Yes, I heard about that." Charlotte said as she snatched the white cue ball before it broke the others.

She held it teasingly away from him.  
"Your mother wants you married to a nice girl. Wants you to behave yourself and produce fat little heirs for Blue Rivers." she grinned.

"She has ideas, doesn't she?" Eames agreed.

Charlotte looked him up and down again.  
"In truth, a husband would only hold me back. I would never be able to do as I pleased. I would be expected to be perfect all the time. Always make him look good." she said.

"Well, like you said, I already look good." Eames told her as he dropped the pool cue on the table and grabbed her.

Charlotte was laughing as she kept the white billiard ball away from him.

"So tell me, _Lord Eames_." Charlotte said as he started kissing her neck. "Tell me what you expect in a wife."

"No obedience." Eames breathed as he smelled a spicy perfume on her skin and his blood pricked alive with lust.

"So, not even a little obedient?" Charlotte teased.  
"Perhaps a disobedient wife will suit me." he huffed as his hands were cupping her breasts, and she let him touch her.

**So, I've decided to have a little more erotica in this than in "Wife". Simply cuz it's Eames, and he's sexy.** **So, fair warning, read at your own risk from now on.**


	10. Chapter 10

5.

~ Ariadne and Fredrick had stolen away to seldom used stairway. They watched the guests mingle and dance from their secretive vantage point.  
"My Harold is a good boy. I only wish my wife could have seen how wonderful his is." Fredrick told her as they watched the people below dancing.  
"My Olivia is like an old woman." Ariadne laughed and Fredrick chuckled. "I honestly don't know where it comes from. She looks at me with this expression." she said and pushed down her brows and made herself as serious as she could.  
Fredrick smiled back at her.  
"It's so funny to see that face on a baby. She was born like that, I swear it." Ariadne insisted.

"They have their own personalities, even at that age." Fredrick said.

"Yes, but where did she get it from?" Ariadne laughed. "I've never been as serious as her in my life and she's just a baby!"

"Perhaps Lord Bradford was a serious baby." Fredrick offered.

Ariadne was saddened for a moment. Although Olivia wasn't Arthur's by blood, she had started to look like him.

"Maybe." she said with a wistful smile.  
"Harold looks so much like my late wife. The lucky devil." Fredrick offered.

"You don't want him to look like you?" Ariadne asked.  
"Who would want to look like me?" Fredrick said with a grin.

"If you shave the mustache off, you might be more pleasing." she offered.

Fredrick leaned back and ran a hand over his face in mock horror.

"I was always told I looked like a mercenary. Mercenaries make the ladies swoon." he said with a little smile.

Ariadne put her wrist to her forehead and pretended to faint as he chuckled.

"Lady Ariadne-"

"Just Ariadne." she corrected him.

He smiled at her and she felt a rush of butterflies go off in her belly.

"Ariadne, I know you are recently widowed. But, with the war, we have all felt time speed up for us." he said.

Her breathing picked up as she waiting for him to go on.

"I was hoping I might keep company with you tomorrow." he said with difficulty. "That I might bring Harold to Blue Rivers and you two could meet."

Ariadne moved away from him and Fredrick looked embarrassed.  
"I know society has you still in mourning. I would never dream of asking you-" he fumbled.  
"I would love to me Harold. And you can meet Olivia." Ariadne said quickly. "Can you come by tomorrow?"

~ Eames relaxed on the sofa in the secluded library as Charlotte's warm lips moved up and down his erect manhood. He had no idea it would be so easy to have his frustrations towards Ariadne released by this pretty, dark haired girl.

The forbidden moment was Charlotte's idea, and she was proving able to satisfy him on the condition they not be caught.

He let out a long breath and grunt in warning as his body let go of all the tension he had been feeling since that day in Ariadne's room. The feel of her breast in his mouth made his blood race hotter than what Charlotte was doing to him now.

If he kept his eyes half closed, he could imagine it was Ariadne who was pleasuring him so well. Instead of the dark haired Charlotte.

His new acquaintance sucked him harder. Her tongue licking and her lips caressing his shaft until he felt the inevitable happen.

"Almost there." he whispered as he watched the dark haired girl work him with her mouth and hands, forcing him to a release.

He handed her a cotton handkerchief and she politely caught his seed and discreetly helped him fold away the evidence.  
He was breathing hard as she stood back up. Her own face just as flushed as his.  
"Miss Williams, I can honestly say that was the most fun I've had at a party this year." he said as he suddenly liked this selfish brat.

"Only this year? Not ever?" she asked in a teasing voice.

"You're good. But you're not that good." he said and pocketed his handkerchief. "Thank you." he added as he straitened his suit and prepared to leave the library.  
"I was thinking I would come visit you next week." Charlotte said brightly.

Eames turned.

"I don't think so. I have planes." he said.  
"Eames?" she said. Not at all insulted or deterred.  
He turned around to see her.  
"I'll see you next week when I come to call." she said with a smile.

~ The drive home was quite as Eames and Ariadne sat away from one another and looked out their separate windows.

"Well, I must say I had a splendid time." Juniper exclaimed from her seat across from them. "Ariadne, I never would have thought your manners would have been so refined. Lady Gardener spoke of nothing but how charming Arthur's widow was."

"Why does her having good manners shock you, mother?" Eames snapped.

Juniper looked only slightly embarrassed and shrugged.  
"It's just a pleasant surprise to find such a modern girl can behave herself." she explained.

"Mother, Ariadne has much more class and kindness then you will ever posses." Eames hissed.

"Darling, there is no reason to get upset. I am merely saying the evening was a success and I'm very happy." Juniper said with an exasperated sigh.  
"So you feel the need to insult Ariadne?" Eames growled.  
"Charles, why must you take things so personally?" Juniper asked.  
"Mother-" Eames started to say.  
"Eames, it's fine." Ariadne interrupted. She didn't want to hear anymore. Didn't want the fighting to go on. She was watching the first snowfall from her seat by the window and was grateful they were cozy inside the car.  
Juniper looked pleased with herself.  
"Ariadne, did you have a good time? I noticed you were talking to Fredrick Hays. He's a solicitor from London. A widower with a young boy a little older then your child." she said.

Eames turned to look at his friend.  
"Mr. Hays knew Arthur briefly." Ariadne said and kept her gaze out the window.

"He's not so very well off, however. He lives with his father in a house in Town. Nice people, his Uncle is in Parliament, I think. Or some kind of government job." Juniper said and gave her son a knowing look.

"Yes, he's very nice." Ariadne told them.  
"Nice he may be, there are lots of nice men in this world. But we can always aim higher. Mr. Hays is middle class and would be a step down for you, dear." Juniper told her.  
"Fredrick will be coming tomorrow with his son to see Olivia and I." Ariadne announced. "I was thinking the four of us would use the conservatory."

She looked at Eames.  
"If you don't mind relocating to the library." she said to him.

Her friend said nothing as his mother gave him a little grin.  
"I think a visit from Mr. Hays will be very nice." Juniper said as the car drove back home.

~ Despite having such a pleasant evening at the party, Ariadne was glad to be home. She missed Olivia and was looking forward to getting out of this dress and going to bed.  
_'I must be getting old.'_ she thought as she was glad they were finally home.

"Oh Missus!" Maura was rushing outside to the car. "We're all in a fuss just now!" the poor maid exclaimed.  
"Maura, what is it?" Ariadne asked as Eames helped her out of the car as if they were in a coach.

"It's Lady Percy, Missus!" Maura said worryingly.

"Is she dead?" Juniper asked coldly.

"No, Missus. Only, Only I can't explain it." the maid said. Clearly overwhelmed with things.  
"What's happened?" Eames asked trying to keep the girl calm as the party came into the house.

"Lady Percy..." Maura tried to tell him as she started to cry.  
"Out with it you stupid girl!" Juniper snapped.

"Juniper!" came a harsh voice that made Ariadne jump.

The party turned to see a ghost of a woman in a wheelchair. Lady Percy's thin body barely had the strength to push her own wheelchair out of her former sitting room.

Her gray hair was thinner and flatter than normal. Her sickly looking appearance still clung to her. But her face, her eyes, were free of the confusion that had plagued her for over a year.

"Aunt Percy!" Juniper said in false brightness.  
"Don't you _Aunt Percy_ me. What have you done to my parlor you trollop? I'm told by Miles that you've taken over the parlor that was given to me by my father. What have you done with my portrait?" Lady Percy said as she pulled out her cane and started to pull her too skinny body up.

"Aunt Percy, be careful." Eames said as he and Ariadne rushed to the older woman's side and made sure she didn't fall.

"I'm fine, dears." Lady Percy said to them. "Juniper, why have you come back? Where is Arthur? Why won't anyone tell me anything?"

"Oh, Lady Percy." Ariadne said as she couldn't believe this formidable old woman was standing up and finally making sense. For months, she had been on the brink of death and then her mind seemed unable to recover.

Lady Percy had subsisted in a child like world where she wasn't bothered about anything.

Ariadne and Eames had kept her in her parlor and hired a nurse to care for her. But upon Juniper's arrival, the former dragon lady was redirected to her bedrooms and kept out of sight.  
"Where is Arthur? Eames, did you tell your cousin about your mother?" Lady Percy barked. Her skin still sallow and sickly looking.  
"Aunt Percy." Eames sighed and he and Ariadne exchanged looks.  
"Whats happened?" Lady Percy said sensing that something was wrong.  
"Aunt Percy, sit back down. We'll take you to the conservatory and talk to you." Ariadne said sadly.  
"I want my parlor restored." Lady Percy barked at Juniper who just stood in the hall. Open mouthed and in shock.

"Aunt Percy, let's have a talk." Eames said as he and Ariadne wheeled the older women to their conservatory.


	11. Chapter 11

~ Part III ~

~ The Tempest ~

1.

~ "Oh poor Arthur!" Lady Percy said sadly. "Are you and Olivia alright?"

"Yes." Ariadne said. Eames sat beside her and the three of them watched snow pile up outside the conservatory windows.

"Were you on the ship, dear?" she asked. The older woman ever practical.  
"No, Olivia and I were here at home." Ariadne told her.

"This is just too much for one family to bare. Did we lose anyone else? Was Mr. Cobb traveling with him?" Lady Percy said.  
"No, Mr. Cobb was in New York when it happened. He came back for the funeral and he's been staying with us a few months to help Eames settle the estate." Ariadne told her.  
"Oh yes, the entail." Lady Percy sighed darkly.

She glared at her nephew. A grown man, but still a child in her eyes.

Her nephew obligingly looked ready for a lecture.  
"Eames, you have a responsibility to your cousin's widow. She must always have a home here. Not just house room, but this must always be hers, and Olivia's home. You are their nearest male relative and they are yours to care for." Lady Percy said.

Eames sat a little straighter.  
"I know they're mine to care for." he said and Ariadne felt herself blush.

She could feel his eyes on her and looked away as she felt nervous sitting so close to him.  
"Now, tell me why is your mother in this house, Eames?" Lady Percy asked. "Your uncle would never have allowed it."  
"She announced she was coming for a visit, and she seems to be staying a little longer than we had hoped." Eames explained.  
"This is not her house. She married your father and left home at sixteen. She came back because he couldn't support them and they had no place to live." Lady Percy said.

Ariadne felt like an outsider, spying on Eames' personal life, but didn't dare take her leave.

"Then, if you please, they took you away from us to India. We didn't hear from her until you were in you were ready for school. By then Juniper had gotten tired of being a mother and wanted to send you here to England and have us pay for it." the older woman went on.  
"I know Aunt Percy." Eames sighed.  
"Eames, I've said it many times that she is not welcome in my house. Why did you allow this?" Lady Percy hissed.  
"Aunt Percy, the day after the phones were installed in the house and in town, you fell ill. You almost died. You... you weren't yourself." Ariadne explained.  
"That was over a year ago, Aunt. We thought you wouldn't make it." Eames added. "Ariadne made sure you were taken care of and when mother came back, she just started taking over."

Lady Percy sat back a little and tried to compose herself.

"She must be told to leave. To go back to India." Lady Percy said.

"She's still my mother, Aunt." Eames said.  
"Your _mother_." Lady Percy scoffed. "She never treated you well, even when you were a baby she ignored you. When you came back to us, you were sickly, undernourished and as wild as a heathen. Your Aunt and Uncle sought the counsel of a lawyer to have her rights terminated. The woman put her twelve year old child on a boat from India to England all alone. You came off that ship with cholera and you nearly died!" Lady Percy said.

Ariadne looked at her friend and Eames avoided her eyes. She never knew this about him.  
"Why we couldn't even send you to school until you were recovered. She never even wrote to you." Lady Percy went on.  
"Aunt Percy, it's late. Why don't we talk about this after we've had a good night's sleep?" Ariadne asked.  
"It seems I've been sleeping enough." Lady Percy said and looked ready to cry. "When Miles told me this evening I had been ill, I... I knew I had been sick. I didn't know it was as bad as all that."

Ariadne reached out and took her hand.  
"I'm so sorry, Aunt Percy." Ariadne told her.  
The older lady shook her head and held her composure.  
"Miles also told me that you took care of me. That you didn't send me off to some dreadful house for the old and unloved."

"She would never do that." Eames said and took his aunt's other hand.  
"I know." Lady Percy said sadly. "I know I haven't exactly welcomed you to this house, Ariadne. But I want you to know I think your a wonderful girl. I'm truly sorry about Arthur."

Ariadne felt herself smile then.  
"In the morning, the three of us can breakfast here. You'll be surprised to see how much Olivia has grown. Phillipa will be happy to see you're back. She hasn't spoken much since Arthur died." she said.

"Poor child." Lady Percy mused. "We must do all we can for Phillipa now."

~ Lady Percy was well enough to walk up the stairs to her rooms. Eames carrying her wheelchair as Ariadne held the older woman for balance.

The nurse met them at the door to her rooms.  
"She just came out of her fog this afternoon after everyone left for the party." she said. "She wanted something to eat and wanted a bath."

"I'm tired." Lady Percy admitted as Eames led her back to the bed.  
"I don't know why she came out of it." the nurse admitted.  
"We'll have the doctor come and see her in the morning." Ariadne sighed. "Don't worry. We'll keep you on. I suspect she's a long way form being fully recovered."

The nurse nodded and Ariadne watched Eames kiss his Aunt's temple and bid her good night.

~ Alone in the hall, alone for the first time in what felt like ages, Ariadne and Eames exchanged knowing looks.

"Why didn't you tell me; about Juniper putting you on a ship like that?" she asked. "I mean, you were a child."

Suddenly, so much about her friend made sense. The attachment to women and the need for their affection, the recklessness, the always leaving when he felt rejected. Not to mention the intense love he thought he had for her.

Eames sighed and looked uncomfortable.

"Mother wasn't like you." he admitted. "She wasn't endowed with this natural love for me the way you are with Olivia."

"Every mother loves her child." Ariadne exclaimed.  
"She had lost babies before I was born. She kept her distance from me." Eames said with a shrug.  
"Eames, there is a difference between keeping one's distance and putting a child on a ship alone. _Cholera_? You had cholera!" she said in disbelief.  
"Let's not over react. I caught it on the ship. I wasn't sent to England with it." Eames assured her.

"Don't make excuses for the woman." she whispered. Ariadne fearing their conversation might be overheard looked down the hallway. "She never wrote to you, sent you away to school and now wonders why you're not the perfect son? As if she had nothing to do with it!"

She had never hated anyone, not even Mrs. Abbot, as much as she hated Juniper just now.

"You're one to talk." Eames said with a little smile.

"What do you mean?" Ariadne asked and backed away from him.  
"You were just as unloved as I was. You were sent off to school and then abandoned when you came up wanting." he reminded her.

She glared at him and he gave her a pleased little smile.  
"We're cut from the same cloth, Ariadne. People don't see it right away because we you're so much better at hiding it then me, but we're just the same. We were tolerated as children by parents who never loved us. We were rejected and sent away. We have a tendency to sabotage ourselves and our own happiness by defying others and social conventions. We make up dream worlds to cope with the fact that we're imposters in our lives. That no one knows how bad we really are." he said and moved closer.

"Eames." she breathed and stepped away from him. Her back hitting the wall and she was neatly trapped.

What he said was true, and she didn't want to believe it. She wasn't as bad as Eames, surely, but she knew he was right. She was forever rebelling against herself. In the first few days of her marriage to Arthur, she defied him at ever turn. Almost daring him to hurt her, to leave her.

He would not be tied down to his wants and what he thought he needed. She wouldn't let him bully her or tell her what to do. It had caused a lot of friction in their marriage, and she knew if she was a good wife, she would have been more submissive to him.

Why was she like this then? So head strong and disobedient? Was it the same reasons Eames was so amorous with other women? Were they really that much alike?  
"Do you like this Mr. Fredrick Hays?" Eames asked as he stepped closer to her. His eyes meeting hers in a way that made those butterflies come back into her belly.  
"I just met him." she confessed. "We're hardly getting married."  
"I know a little about women." Eames said as he ran his hands up her arms and she shivered at his touch. "A single woman never looks at a single man without considering his prospects in matrimony. In the first five minutes of meeting him, you weighed and judged him worthy of husband materiel. Otherwise, you wouldn't have agreed to see him again."

"How clever you are, Mr. Eames." she whispered as his soft lips gently kissed hers before she could stop him.

She was smiling as he pulled away from her, then leaned forward to kiss her again.  
"How clever you _think_ you are." she corrected with a grin as he kissed her over and over again till her cheeks burned.  
"I _am_ quite clever." he agreed as she could feel his mouth curling into a smile as their lips met. His touch, his affections, still chaste, but her body felt luxurious and responsive to him.

'_More._' she thought as his lips grazed down to her exposed neck. His mouth feasting on her skin. '_Do more!_'

"You whore!" came a scream from down the hall.

**Sorry no post yesterday. Too busy and crazy. **

** Today is my 35th birthday, and I woke up to a really AWESOME "Wizard of Oz" birthday cake from my husband. He's good about my cake on my birthday. Last year it was Zombies, the year before that, it was "WALL-E". **

** I'm going to have lunch with my Dad and hopefully, 35 will be a very good time for me. **


	12. Chapter 12

2.

Eames pushed away from Ariadne as she put her hands over her neck. Covering the place where his lips were tormenting her. As if his kiss would leave some mark, a brand, on her flesh. Evidence of their illicit moment.

There was no one in the deserted hallway. A second outcry reached them.

"Get out of this house!" Juniper's voice carried down the hall. "Get out!" she screamed.

"Bloody hell!" Eames growled as he stormed down the hall in serch of the cries. Ariadne close at his side. "Will this night never end?"

They soon found the cause of the distress.  
"Madam!" came Mal's plas as they reached Cobb's guest room. Their mutual friend had stayed at Blue Rivers to help Eames with Arthur's estate and Ariadne suspected to spend more time with Juniper's lady's maid, Mal.

"There is no need for this." Cobb said sternly.

His bedroom door was open and Ariadne gasped and covered her eyes as she realized they had all intruded on Cobb and Mal in bed together. The ladies maid covering herself as Cobb was trying to dress.

"Mal, you are dismissed with no reference." Juniper growled. "I've been calling you for an hour, and now I come to find you like this!"

"Calm down, mother." Eames said as Ariadne turned and left the room. The image of Arthur's friend in bed with a woman was shocking. She wasn't used to thinking about other couples like that.  
"Get out, whore!" Juniper cried.  
"Don't call her that!" Cobb shouted.  
"Everyone stop yelling." Eames said and tried to guide Juniper out of the room.

"Madam!" came Mal's plea for understanding.  
"Mal, you stay with Mr. Cobb tonight. We'll work this out later." Eames said and pulled Juniper out into the hall.  
"First the old woman; now my ladies maid. There is nothing so horrible as losing one's maid!" Juniper shouted. "I've had Mal with me for almost ten years now! To have to fire her now over that dreadful American!"

"Mother, you don't have to fire her." Eames said with an exhausted sigh.  
"And we're very happy Mr. Cobb has found someone. He's been a lonely bachelor for too long." Ariadne added. "We're also very pleased that Aunt Percy is back to good health."

"Well, this is just a wonderful night, isn't it?" Juniper spat. "I want Mal gone, Eames! I never want to see her again."

"I'm taking her back to America with me." Cobb said emerging from his rooms. "Tomorrow, in fact. We've already booked passage. I plan to marry her on the ship." he added confidently.

Ariadne hid a little smile behind her hand. She wasn't used to seeing Cobb so self assured and confident. Normally he was mild and quite. She knew Mal must have had a strong effect on her husband's friend. She wondered if Arthur had changed this much after they were married.

"You're leaving us?" Eames asked in disbelief. "You don't have to."

"Yes they do!" Juniper spat.  
"Cobb, you know you're welcome here as long as you want to stay." Ariadne added as both she and Eames pretended Juniper wasn't there.  
"No, he's not!" Juniper insisted.  
"I know you want me to stay." Cobb said with a sigh.

"No we don't!"

"But with the war official, I want to marry and take my bride back to America." Cobb said.  
"So you'll leave me alone with a house full of women?" Eames accused teasingly.

"I'm sorry." Cobb said with an embarrassed laugh. He turned to Ariadne then.

"The offer to take you back with us still stands, Ariadne. You and Olivia will be welcome in our home in New York. It might be safer for you now with the war." Cobb told her.

Eames turned around and looked at her.

She remembered the kiss they had delighted in just moments before, and her cheeks burned hot.

"I may one day come to visit you and Mal." she said tactfully. "But it would be wrong to interfere with honeymooners just now. I think I'll stay at Blue Rivers a while longer."

Eames seemed to breath a sigh of relief and Ariadne avoided everyone's eyes.  
"Fine, go and take her with you." Juniper fumed. She looked over the younger people who still ignored her like she was a spoiled child.  
"I'm sorry there won't be a wedding." Cobb said sadly. "Mal has no family in country and I wanted us to be legal as soon as possible."

"Now that you've had your fun!" Juniper snapped.  
"Think nothing of it." Eames said with a smile as he shook Cobb's hand. "I want to give you a wedding present from Ariadne and myself." he said. "Uncle had a very fine collection of cufflinks he collected for 30 years. I never wear them and I want you to have them. You'll love them."

"Charles! Those belonged to the family!" Juniper exclaimed.

"I can't accept them." Cobb said graciously.  
"You can, Uncle would want them to go to someone who will appreciate them." Eames said.  
"Charles!" Juniper snapped.  
"Are those the cufflinks with the pearls?" Ariadne chimed in. "Oh they are lovely!"

"Oh, yes. Uncle collected from all over the world. He had scrimshaw, pearls and ivory ones to." Eames said.  
"Charles, I said no!" Juniper snapped.  
"Thank you so much, Eames." Cobb said.  
"Arthur would have wanted you to have them to." Ariadne added as Juniper looked livid.

"Charles!" Juniper said breathing hard.  
"I want to give Mal something to. I think I have a nice brooch for her to have on her wedding day. I got it in Paris, but it's too fashionable for me." Ariadne laughed.  
"Well let's just give them the good silverware!" Juniper said angrily.  
"Cobb, would you be interested in the good silverware?" Eames asked and Ariadne hid a smile behind her hands again.

~ Olivia was sleeping peacefully as Ariadne watched her breathing in and out.

The baby's oh so serious face was peaceful at the moment. No fussiness, not crying, no judgmental looks that Olivia was famous for.

Her mother had finally moved the baby back to the nursery after needing her for comfort after Arthur's death. It still felt lonely in her bedroom all alone most nights.  
"I don't know, Olivia." Ariadne sighed. "Your daddy and I talked about going back to America. But I don't know what he would want for us now."

Olivia's breathing was light and her cheeks were tinted pink from a happy sleep.

"We have no family in America." she said sadly.

She and Arthur had promised one another that they would never mention Ariadne's parents or Jeffery to Olivia. Arthur never wanted his daughter to think she was anything less than his child.

They both feared the truth would be too much for Olivia.

Ariadne's parents had disowned her when they found out about her affair with Jeffery and her resulting pregnancy. Jeffery had abandoned her completely and she would have been destitute if it wasn't for Arthur and her hasty marriage to him.

She thought the knock on the door would be Maura. It didn't feel as late as it was and she thought the house would still be up. Too much had happened and Ariadne was still wide awake.

"Come in." she called out as Olivia was sleeping soundly.

She startled when she saw Eames slip into the nursery in his night clothes.  
"What are you doing here?" Ariadne almost gasped. She clutched her dressing robe to her chin as Eames stole into the nursery with her.  
"Couldn't sleep; I saw the light was on. I think we need to talk." he said and closed the door behind him.

"We can talk in the morning." Ariadne whispered.

Eames shook his head.  
"Do you really mean to keep company with this Fredrick fellow?" he asked.

She let out a long sigh.

"Eames, I'm really tired." she said and side stepped him.  
"Ariadne, we need to talk about what happened in the hallway tonight." he said following her out.

She brushed him off and made a beeline to her bedroom. Eames close at her heels.

"Good night, Mr. Eames." she said and tired to close the door behind her.

Her friend blocked her from shutting him out and barged into her room.  
"Eames!" she said in shock as he came in, and closed the door after it.  
"We need to talk, Ariadne." he said.

"No, we don't." she told him.

"Fine." he said with a shrug.

She was breathing had as she watched him slip off his robe, revealing he wore pajama bottoms and no top. His bare chest showing his body had fully recovered from his illness just a few months ago.

"Eames, what are you doing?" she asked as he tossed his robe on the bed and moved closer to her.

"I don't want to sleep alone tonight." he said simply.  
"Eames, go back to your rooms." she ordered.

She tried to avert her eyes from that well toned chest she remembered. Eames had regained his health after she brought him back from Fischer's hospital. He was no longer too thin and the scars on his body looked less noticeable now that he wasn't so sick.  
"We've slept in the same bed before. Remember?" he asked as he stepped closer to her. "I promised then, and I'll promise now, that I won't try anything."

"Eames." she whispered as she felt her resolve weakening. "It's really late."  
"All the more reason for us to go to sleep." he said.  
"Eames." she hissed as she watched him climb into her bed and make himself comfortable.

She let out a long sigh, and tried to think of what to do.

"Ariadne?" he whispered. "Come to bed."


	13. Chapter 13

3.

~ In the darkness of night, Ariadne tried to turn off her brain. Eames was obviously still awake and they lay next to each other in mutual, uncomfortable, silence.

"Do you really want to stay here at Blue Rivers?" he asked her.

Ariadne took a deep breath and could smell the fact he had recently bathed himself. His warm body smelling of soap and a natural maleness that made her own body spark like fire wood.

"I said I did." she told him.

She could feel him move closer to her. His leg touching hers under the covers. His foot making contact with hers.

She felt that annoying blush heat up her face.

"If we got married, I would stay out of the war." he said suddenly. "You, Olivia and I could leave with Cobb and Mal to America. Get married on the ship like them."

"Eames." she whispered.

"I know, it's a stupid dream." he laughed.  
"I thought you said we weren't good together." she reminded him as she longed for his hands to find her body.

Since becoming a widow, she missed the touch of a man. With Jeffery, she found she needed his reckless desires like she needed a drug. Her body going through a withdrawal when she was deprived of their heated time together. Her spirit feeling guilty and dirty every time she gave into him.

With Arthur, she enjoyed his affections like a wonderful, nourishing meal. A meal where they took their time and enjoyed every appetizer, every entree and every desert.

With Arthur, she was always well fed.

Now with Eames here, she suddenly realized she was starving.

"Sometimes, I think you're the only woman for me. That you could save me from myself." he said sadly. "But then, I know, I would be bad for you."

She wanted to say something, but bit her lip.

"If you married me, I promise I won't go to war. I'm the last son in a noble family, I would be excused from battle. You would be protected and well provided for. The same arrangement with Arthur; you would be lady of this house again." he promised.  
"Eames, you _want _to go to war." she accused.  
"I _want_ to be with you." he whispered and she sensed him rolling on his side to look at her. "It's all I've ever wanted."

"Eames." she breathed as she felt his hands on her belly and a hot, wild rush took flight in her body.

"Marry me." he whispered as she felt his kiss find her lips in the darkness. Her friend rolling over till he was resting comfortable on top of her.

"Eames, we- we can't." she panted as she felt him slip off her night dress. He breasts once more exposed to the chill of the night air.

She didn't fight him as the feel of his flesh on her bare breasts was too wonderful to resist.

"We won't go too far, I promise." he whispered as his lips started to suck at her breasts again.

Her skin ignited to the ticklish feel of his light facial hair on the delicate flesh of her breasts. The warm wetness of his mouth on her nipples as he kissed and sucked on her.

His body and hips maneuvering between her legs, pushing them apart as he ground his hips into her.  
"Don't worry," he growled as he looked up from his feed. "I promise I won't do it unless you want me to."

She gasped at the sudden feel on a rock like hardness pressing between her legs. It's threatening advancement halted by the bed sheets and the thin layers of clothing that they both wore.  
"I just..." he panted as he ground into her body again without penetrating. "I just want a taste."

She gasped as her body rocked with his steady movements. His erection stimulating her and causing a wetness to grow as they moved together.

She let out a loud moan of pleasure as she enjoyed the friction of his body rubbing against hers.  
"You know we would be good together." he whispered as she couldn't understand what he was saying. Her body going off like fireworks as his hardness rubbed and tortured her tender wetness.

'_Oh God._' she thought. '_Take me, do it now!_' she wanted to scream and instead let out a groan as he swiveled his hips and made her body seize with a sudden orgasm.

She gasped as the feel of his warm wet breath on her neck, lips and ears.

'_Oh no!_' she thought. '_Oh no, this feels too good! He has to stop!'_

"Eames." she panted and held closer to his rock like body.

"I want you. Please." he said huskily as he rolled away from her; his hands going into his pajama pants; pulling out his ridged maleness for her to see.  
"Ariadne, I want to be with you." he said as he openly worked himself into a frenzy.

"Eames." she breathed as she tied not to look at the length and width of his enraged member.

"Lay back down." he growled.

Trustingly, she allowed him to lay her on her back as he place a blanket between them. Her legs cradling his hips again as he ground and rubbed himself on her. Their friction making her gasp in delight at the pleasure he gave her without the risk.

"Eames!" she gasped.

"We can just play, Ariadne. This is how we can have out fun, without having to pay the price for it 9 months from now." he whispered with a grin.

He pulled away from her then, his hands back on his large manhood as she watched him pump and handle himself.

Instinctively, her own hands went to him and he allowed her explorations of his body. Her small hands not large enough satisfy him as she tried to touch him.

Eames didn't seem upset by this, however. He was soon laying beside her as she felt his large fingers dip into her wet, neglected womanhood.  
"It's alright." he was panting as she gave into the delicious feel of his fingers penetrating her. Stimulating her body as though they were really lovers now. "There won't be a baby from this."

~ She feel asleep almost immediately after their frenzy, and she had no memory of anything else. She didn't dream and her body felt worn out and in need of more sleep when the sounds of the scullery maid in her room made her open her eyes.

It was the first of October, and as tradition at Blue Rivers, the scullery maid lit a fire in the bedrooms, whether there was a chill in the air or not.

Like a frightened rabbit, Ariadne huddled in the bed next to Eames' sleeping body.

The maid could plainly see she wasn't alone. Her bed mate's large body was laid out half covered for anyone to come in and see him.

His broad chest was exposed to the air and his big feet stuck out of their shared bed.

She watched with one, frighted eye as the maid finished lighting the fire, peeped over at the sleeping couple and quietly left. Closing the door behind her.

"Eames?" Ariadne hissed at him and shook his heavy body.

Her friend snorted and rolled away slightly.  
"Eames, wake up!" she snapped and gave his chest a hard slap.

The coolness of the air seeping under their covers reminded her that she was totally naked, and the feel of his perfect body next to her, said he wasn't clothed either.  
"Time is it?" he groaned and he rolled over for one more snooze.

"Early. Eames, get out." she spat as she slapped him on the chest again.

"Keep it up, darling." Eames said lazily. "You'll get a spanking of your own soon."

"Eames, the maid was in here. She saw us together." she said worryingly.

"So?" Eames said and tried to get more comfortable in their bed.  
"Eames, Arthur hasn't even been dead 4 months now and the staff thinks I've jumped into bed with the new Lord of Blue Rivers." Ariadne said and fought back the urge to cry.  
"I'll explain to them I jumped into bed with you." Eames said as he finally resigned himself to being woken up.  
He rolled on his back and looked as her.

Ariadne clutching the bedding close to her body and fought a wave of self loathing.  
"You were beautiful last night." he said and his fingers reached out to touch her bare arm.

She cringed away from him.  
"Eames, it's almost dawn, we have to meet Aunt Percy for breakfast." she said and used her legs to try and kick him out of the bed.

Eames only laughed as her slight body wasn't capable of moving such a large man.  
"Alright, if you want me to leave." he laughed.  
"I want you to leave." she insisted. "You shouldn't have stayed last night." she said feeling flustered. "You shouldn't have come to me at all."

"I wanted to be with you. I think you wanted it to. It's not a sin to want a man again. You're not made of stone." he told her.  
"Eames." she said feeling hot under his gaze.  
"If you're worried about a baby, don't be. I won't compromise you till will we're married. I know what I'm doing." he assured her.

"I'm sure you do. With all your experience." she bit back harshly. "I'm not marrying you. I'll leave for America today before it comes to that."

"Ariadne." Eames said sadly and tried to reach for her again.  
"Get out!" she almost shouted.

**I didn't want to say anything till it was official, but I got a great new job! Still in healthcare, but it's in the pharmacy. Better hours and better moeny. I hope I can do really well there. It's the job I was holding out for. I'm very happy!**


	14. Chapter 14

4.

~ "Well, I must say you Americans are the sort to go against convention." Lady Percy said as Cobb and Mal joined them for breakfast that morning. Juniper was not invited to the conservatory as the party sat down to enjoy the morning meal and bid farewell to Cobb and his bride.

Ariadne looked at Lady Percy who realized she had said something offensive.

"However, it's not unheard of for a man of middle class means to marry a proper ladies maid. The middle class has far more freedom than the rest of us at times." the older woman added.

Ariadne smiled as she watched Cobb kiss his bride's hand.

"With this dreadful news of war, Arthur dieing; a marriage is just the good news we need." the old lady told them. "Are you certain you won't have the ceremony in the chapel here?"

"We want to be married on the ship back to America." Cobb said. "Both of us are at an age where we don't have the luxury of time to waste."

"Well spotted." Lady Percy agreed.

Olivia let out a cry for attention and demanded more of the toast her mother was eating.

Ariadne shushed her little girl and gave her the bread, which the baby only gummed.

"I'm very glad to hear that you are not leaving us, Ariadne." Lady Percy said as she observed them. "It would be a lonely house if you and Olivia weren't here."

"We're not planning to leave, Aunt Percy. Arthur wanted this to be our home." Ariadne said and tried not to look at Eames.

He had been full of energy all morning, eating his breakfast quickly, saying little and seeming in far too good a mood for her liking. She felt sure everyone would know what they had done together. She and Eames were both capable of keeping secrets, but Ariadne was sure that the little looks they stole back and fourth would give them away. That Lady Percy, with her ever so sharp eyes despite her long illness, would see them trying to avoid each other.

She stole a look across the conservatory at her friend. He was standing behind Phillipa, showing her how to use the brownie box camera to take a picture of a blooming orchid.

"Hold it steady, now click the shutter. Very good." he said as he knelt beside the child.  
"I want to see the picture now." Phillipa whined.

"We have to develop them first, darling." he laughed. "I've built a little dark room in the servant hall, we can develop them before I leave for Army."

"Eames, you can't really be thinking of going to war. It's barbaric and you're a proper gentleman." Lady Percy scolded.  
"Oh, what lies you tell, Aunt." Eames chuckled as he took the camera from Phillipa, snapped a picture of the breakfast party at their table and rolled the film back so Phillipa could take more pictures.

"Eames, I won't stand for you going off to get killed. I know you feel it is a duty to country, but your duty to your family is much greater. You must find a wife and do so very soon." Lady Percy told him.  
"What is all this hurry to get me married off?" Eames grumbled as he returned to the table. "I'm a confirmed old bachelor whom no proper lady could want."

"Eames, remind me to have a talk with you later." Lady Percy scolded. Not looking at Ariadne, Cobb or Mal.

~ "Are you sure you don't want to come back to America with us?" Cobb asked Ariadne she carried Olivia out to the driveway to say goodbye to her friends. "It might be better for you. You know you're welcome."

"With honeymooners?" Ariadne teased.

Cobb gave her an embarrassed smile.  
"Alright, I see your point. But I want you to think about making the trip soon. I think Arthur would have wanted you and Olivia safely back in New York with the war." he said.  
"I'll think about it." she promised.

Cobb looked around them. As if expecting to see someone other than the two of them in the driveway.  
"Lady Percy has every reason to want Eames married soon." he whispered.  
"What do you mean?" Ariadne asked him.  
"The entail. It's conditions of marriage hasn't changed." he explained. "In order for Eames to fully inherit the title and the money Arthur left behind, he has to be married within the year.."

"What?" Ariadne asked.

How could she have forgotten about that irritating stipulation? About the whole reason Arthur married her in the first place.  
"Arthur was the kind of man who wanted that technicality taken care of before he even made the claim to the title. He married you to get things settled right away. Eames, obviously, has never married. The entail states he has to find a wife within a year after the last heir's death, or forfeit the title and money." Cobb explained.  
"Wait, so if Eames doesn't marry..." Ariadne asked.

"Then the money goes back to you and Olivia." Cobb explained.  
"Eames wants to marry me. He says he won't go to war if I marry him." she whispered.  
"He'll know about the entail provision. If he doesn't, the dragon lady or his mother will inform him. If he marries someone else, you really will be at his mercy as well as the new mistress of Blue Rivers."

"What should I do?" Ariadne asked.

Cobb looked troubled.  
"You could marry him. You could marry someone else or come back to America when you're ready." he advised.

"If he were to go to war and... and dies... with no wife or heir..." Ariadne breathed.

"Then the entail would be broken; you would get all of Arthur's money back, and Blue Rivers as well." Cobb told her.


	15. Chapter 15

5.

~ "A Mr. Fredrick Hays, Madam." Miles said an hour or so after Cobb left. Eames had taken Phillipa on a long walk outside to play with the camera. The sun had come out and the it chased the coldness away for a little while.  
"Fredrick!" Ariadne said with a smile as she tried to behave normally. She wasn't used to having visitors and Fredrick Hays made her feel more nervous than Cobb or Juniper when he came to call.

Her new acquaintance followed Miles into the conservatory; holding onto his hand was a small boy with his father's blue eyes.  
"So nice to see you again, Ariadne." Fredrick said and she gasped at his new appearance.  
"You shaved your mustache off!" she cried in shock.  
Fredrick laughed and ran his hand over his shaved lip.  
"I did." he admitted. "I got it into my head that it was time for a change. What do you think?"

"It looks very becoming." Ariadne said truthfully.

Fredrick no longer looked like just another face in the crowd at a ball. A place where every man had some well groomed facial hair. He now looked very dashing with his cleanly shaven face, sharp blue eyes and smoothed back hair.

"You're not just saying that?" he asked.  
"Not at all, sir." she said and knelt down to see the boy. "You must be Harold."

The child ducked away from her and hid behind his father.  
"You'll have to forgive him, Ariadne." Fredrick said sadly. "He's not at all accustomed to being around pretty ladies."

"Well, in that case, he's forgiven." Ariadne said with a laugh as Harold peeked out at her. "Maura is bringing Olivia in from her nap and I'll ring for some tea."

"That sounds lovely." Fredrick said.

~ "So, when my uncle offered to pay for my schooling and position with his firm, who was I to object?" Fredrick explained as Olivia watched Harold play with wooden blocks on the floor of the conservatory.

The little girl was fascinated by a child so close to her own age and observed him as if he were a very interesting species she didn't want to disturb.

"I would think it would be very boring, nothing but paper work all day." Ariadne asked as they watched the two children from the lounge area.  
"It can be. But it's good to feel useful to my clients. It's always good to have a lawyer. I understand your late husband had factories in America. I bet that was more exciting." Fredrick said.

"I knew very little of his work. It was something he kept to himself. He was very good at what he did, very smart about his investments." Ariadne said sadly as she watched Olivia take one of the blocks. The little boy gently taking it from her and putting it at the top of the tower he made.

"I heard about the phone hub. You must have been very proud of him." Fredrick said as they watched their children play.  
"I am very proud of him." she said absentmindedly.

She turned to her new friend and caught her breath. He was always looking at her right in the eye again. It was maddening how intimate it was. As though they were making love instead of just talking.  
"Fredrick, I need to be honest with you." she said softly.  
"I encourage in." he said and set his tea cup down.  
"My late husband's estate... you see it's apart of an entail. Arthur's money, factories, the phone hub, everything... was entailed away from Olivia and I when he died. It was all grouped together as apart of Blue River's estate and now my husband's distant cousin, Mr. Eames is the heir. Olivia and I have nothing, not even life insurance. We're living here under the good graces of Eames. He may turn us out when he please, although I don't believe he ever would." she said and avoided Fredrick's eyes.  
"Ariadne." he said softly.

"So, if your purpose in coming here is to court me with intentions towards some kind of marriage to a woman with a lot of money, I'm sorry to disappoint you." she said sadly.  
"Ariadne."

"I know I'm most likely jumping to conclusions, but I want to be honest and tell you the truth from the start. So as not to lead you on." she finished.

"Ariadne?" he asked and she was forced to look him in the eyes again.  
Fredrick gave her a little smile.  
"Everyone in the county knows of your situation. No one believes Mr. Eames would cast you or the child out. He's not the sort. I didn't come her to court you with the hopes of marrying into a gold mine. I did, however come here with designs to court you with the purpose of matrimony." he said.  
"Oh." she breathed feeling stupid.

"I realize your husband has just recently passed away. But with the war coming on us, I see no reason to wait. I'm lonely for a wife, I make a modest living, I have my own home in Town with a private cook, housekeeper and driver. I haven't the need for more. It's not as grand as Blue Rivers. But it does need a mistress." he said and loosened his collar.  
"I hate to sound like this is a business arrangement, but I have excellent prospects as a partner for you. I feel I have a good humor, I can provide well for our family. Nothing as lavish as what you're used to, but you will have your own home with no worries of some silly entail leaving you or Olivia homeless." he said and Ariadne felt her face go hot.

Fredrick cleared his throat.  
"I'm not ready to extend you an offer just yet, more time is needed for that. There is also the matter of your late husband so recently passed. All these things take time in our society." he said at last.

Ariadne was breathing hard and watching her daughter play with the quite little boy. She hardly knew Fredrick, but she liked him. She had never been properly courted by a man before. Jeffery had insisted on secrecy, and Arthur hadn't courted her at all before they were wed. She liked the idea of a man coming to romance her. Exactly the way she always hoped.

"Mr. Hays, I... I would very much like to see you exclusively. I don't see any reason why we have to wait any longer than necessary. My husband is gone and he would have wanted me to find happiness. I don't wear mourning dresses anymore, and I am a free agent who can speak for herself." she told him.  
"Yes, I forgot to mention that I really like the pants." Fredrick said as he looked down at her modern wardrobe.

"I have to chase after that little girl of mine, I can't be tied down!" Ariadne said and smoothed out the fabric as if it was a skirt.

"You're a modern woman then?" he asked with an amused smile.  
"Very." she told him. "When women get the vote, I'll be the first in line."

"My Aunt lives in Ireland. She talks just like that sometimes. She's a very modern woman herself." Fredrick said.  
"I would like to meet her." Ariadne said happily.  
"Perhaps during the holidays, you and Olivia can come and stay with us in Town." Fredrick offered.

"I would like that." Ariadne said and the turned their attention back to the children.

Harold was giving Olivia a block and, full of childhood innocence, the little boy leaned over and kissed the girl on the cheek. Olivia scowled at him and swatted him away.  
Ariadne gasped and tried not to laugh.  
"I have no idea where he learned that." Fredrick said and pretended great interest in his cup of tea as Ariadne fought a wave of giggles.

**All this writing about Mr. Eames doing some sexy things, it has me craving some Tom Hardy. So, I bought the movie "Lawless" and got my fix. **


	16. Chapter 16

6.

~ "Do rabbits hibernate?" Phillipa asked as she and Eames walked down a path that was normally flushed with rabbits.

The girl wanted to take more pictures, and found it disagreeable that the intended subject matter wasn't available.  
"No, but they stay in their burrows when it's cold outside, just like we stay in the house." Eames said as Phillipa scowled into the light filter of the camera.

"I want to see the bunnies." Phillipa said.  
"You'll see plenty of them in the spring time, love." he said sadly as he wondered what Ariadne and this Fredrick person were doing back in the conservatory.

Their sacred place of hiding was becoming over run with outsiders lately. First Cobb, then Juniper. Just today Lady Percy, Cobb and Mal had intruded in their space. Now, Fredrick Hays was making himself at home there.

Eames broke a dead twig in his hands at the silent frustration he was feeling.

"In the spring time? You'll be at war in the spring time." Phillipa told him and Eames heard the shutter click. Phillipa had take n his picture without his knowing.

"I will be, yes." he said as she observed him.  
"Will you die?" she asked.

"Why would you think that, Phillipa?" he asked.

She gave a little shrug.  
"Daddy died. Simon died. Cousin Arthur died." she explained.  
"Well, I'm not going to die." Eames assured her.  
"Cousin Ariadne is worried you'll die." Phillipa informed him.  
"Did she say that?" Eames asked.

His heart suddenly leaping with joy at the idea that Ariadne had talked to Phillipa about him. That she was worried about him. That she might love him after all.

Phillipa didn't answer, but scowled at something behind him.

"Who's that?" she whispered and Eames turned to look.

A woman, well dressed in a wool long coat and fashionable hat with a tuft of quail feathers was striding towards them.

Eames felt his heart almost stop beating.  
"Charlotte." he coughed and stood up to greet her. "What are you doing here?"

"Miles told me you had gone for a walk. I thought I might join you." Charlotte Williams said. "We can enjoy this last embrace of warmth before the winter sets in."

Eames nodded and felt embarrassed. Phillipa was looking at the both of them.  
"Phillipa, this is Charlotte Williams." Eames explained feebly. How should he introduce such an acquaintance to the child? Charlotte wasn't his friend, he was not her suitor. He barely knew the woman outside of a few stolen moments together at a party.  
"Pleased to meet you." Phillipa said with a little curtsey.  
"Charming." Charlotte said stiffly. "My, she's allowed to play with an expensive toy, isn't she?" she said nodding to the brownie camera Phillipa was holding.

The little girl aimed the lens at them and Eames was quick to block Phillipa from taking the picture of him with this woman.  
"Darling, why don't you run ahead to the gardens? Take some pictures there? We have to use up all the film so we can develop them." he told her.

Phillipa looked at him curiously and turned to go.  
"Lovely child. You're uncle's daughter, right? I heard she was on _Titanic_ and was abandoned by her maid in New York. How dreadful." Charlotte said in a voice that sounding anything but horrified.

"What is it you want, Miss Williams?" Eames growled. He felt his cheeks burning with shame over what he had done with this woman in the library at the Gardner's party.

"Nothing, Mr. Eames." Charlotte laughed. "I told you I would be coming by."  
"And I said that wouldn't be necessary." he said.

"I think it is." she said as they stalled on the trial and watched Phillipa taking pictures of the dieing winter roses.  
"What do you want?" he asked again. "You want some kind of commitment from me over what we did in the library? Some kind of heartfelt apology for ruining your reputation? You won't get it. I'm not that kind of man." he told her.  
"It was my idea, Mr. Eames. Remember?" she said lazily. "Anyhow, I thought you liked it. You seemed to."

"I did enjoy it. But I'm not looking to be married now because if it." he said.  
"That's not what I hear." she said.  
"What is it you hear?"

"I hear, from many reliable sources, that you are in desperate need of a wife who can produce you a legal heir. Without said arrangement, your new found fortune will be to the winds. All that money will go back to America, no doubt, with your late cousin's lovely wife." she said.

"Who told you this nonsense?" he growled.

"Your mother." she said lazily. "She seems to think we'd be a good match and I must admit, I agree."

"I don't think we would. You're a very selfish, spoiled brat who only cares about the world as it affects her." he said and stepped away.  
"I won't deny that." Charlotte said with a smile. "But you're not exactly an angel Mr. Eames. Gossip about you can always be found."

Eames stopped walking and turned to her.

She gave him that aggravating superior look again.

"Not many girls from good families would marry you. No matter how much money was involved. Just this past year, very troubling rumors about you in some charity hospital in White Chapel have come out. That just before your cousin's death, his wife had to come and rescue you from a life of drunken debauchery. Word has it you obtained some kind of foulness from women who sell themselves. That's why no one at the party would talk to you." she said.

"You didn't seem to have any problems." he said through gritted teeth. "In fact, how do you know I'm not ripe with disease?"

"I think we both know I had the opportunity to examine you thoroughly. I also think that you're too much in love with another woman to pay some street walker." she said.

"Who am I supposed to be in love with?" he laughed.

"Ariadne? Is that her name? Some kind of silly Greek name from unimaginative and ill bread parents." Charlotte sighed.

Eames had to bite back a denial that threatened to come up. He swallowed.  
"I suppose people on the outside, looking in, assume things. Their lives are so dull, they have to imagine things about others to gossip about. All to detract from the drama in their own lives." he said.  
"I suppose." Charlotte said. "And Lady Bradford is very lovely. If you fail to marry, or die in this silly war, she'll be a wealthy woman again. Nothing is more enticing to a man than an attractive widow with lots of money."

Eames said nothing.  
"In fact, I think a Mr. Fredrick Hays was talking to his chaps just last night about... oh what was the term he used... ah, getting his card in early. I think he's hoping to get in her good graces in case she does come into the money. He's middle class and her late husband's estate is still not settled until you marry." she explained.

"So you want me to marry you. Is that it?" he said with a chuckle.

"Yes, I do." Charlotte said simply. "I think we would be beneficial to each other."

"Why don't I just marry Lady Bradford?" Eames said with a shrug.  
"Because I don't think she'll have you. She stayed away from you all night at the party." Charlotte explained.

"Maybe we kept away from each other on purpose. All the gossipers." Eames offered.

Charlotte laughed.  
"I thought you didn't care about the gossiping old biddies." she said. "No, Mr. Eames, you were eying her with such hatred as she talked to other people at the party. I pride myself on knowing people. You love her, she doesn't love you."

Eames felt like he had been bitten by a heartless snake. It's venom pouring into his veins like cold, creeping ice water.

He tripped over a hidden branch and tried to collect himself.  
"I"m not looking to get married, Charlotte." he said at last. "I would be a disservice to both of us if I married you."

"Eames, I'm not fool. I'm 28 years old now. The bloom is off the rose so to speak. You're older now as well. Not many women will have you now that the war is on. You want to protect your family's home? You want a home for your mother and young Phillipa there? Or do you want to be forever known as the man who lost Blue Rivers to an American interloper?" she snarled.

Eames looked back at her. This creature wounding him through the heart with her poisonous words.

Everything she said was true. If Arthur's money reverted back to Ariadne, she would certainly take herself and Olivia back to America. Men would line up to marry her. He had some investments, but nothing close to what he would need to run Blue Rivers. The house was large with many servants and despite Arthur making the rental properties profitable again, it wasn't enough to maintain such a grad house. His mother, Aunt Percy and Phillipa would be forced to leave their home if Arthur's money went away.

"I realize this is harsh." Charlotte said as her venom hurt his blood. "But I want you to understand when you're in for. What we could provide for each other. I'm not the enemy Mr. Eames. I'm your chance at saving the family home. You only have a few months left before Ariadne can reclaim her late husband's estate. What do you think will happen when she does? She depends on your charity now; when she doesn't... she will leave and never return. Marry me, and you can keep her here with you at Blue Rivers forever. I don't care if you keep a mistress. I'll produce an heir for you and our obligations to each other will be over, aside from public appearances. You'll be free to keep your great love around your home forever." she said soothingly.

Eames felt himself shaking and Charlotte took his hands.

"I know this is troubling, dearest. But think about it." she said.

He finally turned to look at her. Her tall, slender body. Her bright, crafty face.

"Good day Miss. Williams." he whispered and left her.  
"I'll call again tomorrow, Mr. Eames. Think over all I've said, we can talk then." she called after him.

~ "So, tell me all about Mr. Hays." Juniper said with a knowing smile. "He's so handsome."

The family had seated themselves at dinner that evening. Ariadne wasn't used to dressing up for dinners anymore. Since Lady Percy's illness, Arthur's departure, Eames coming home so sick and Arthur passing away, the fancy sit down dinners had been done away with.

Instead, she, Eames, Olivia and Phillipa would hide in the conservatory and have Miles bring them a picnic basket of food.

It had felt more cozy to eat in their conservatory with just them. The regal dinning room of Blue Rivers felt like a monstrous chore with footmen and Miles hovering nearby and their conversation monitored.  
"Mr. Hays is very nice." Ariadne said casting a worried look at Miles and the two footmen.

"I'm so very pleased you're keeping company with eligible gentlemen." Juniper said. "Although, a marriage to him would mean you would downsize quite a bit. You'll be living in Town at his father's home. A nice house, but small."

"Perhaps, you shouldn't rush into anything, dear." Lady Percy said and cast Juniper a scathing look. "Marriage is a serious business arrangement that must be carefully weighed and measured before accepting terms."

"Business arrangement?" Juniper laughed. "You haven't changed a bit, Aunt Percy."  
"Marriage is in every way a business arrangement. Money, property and other capital is merged. Living arrangements are changed and new parties are brought into the picture who are a joy, but also a liability. It's far more sensible to look at a potential husband as a business partner before anything else." Lady Percy explained.  
"So love doesn't enter into it?" Juniper scoffed.  
"Love is fickle, fleeting and subjective." Lady Percy explained. "It's far better to ally yourself to a person whom you find beneficial and tolerable."

Juniper rolled her eyes.  
"Laugh all you will. The best marriages, the happiest couples, marry under arrangements that are treated more like a business than some silly romantic notion, Juniper." Lady Percy said.

"I fell in love with my dear Charlie, and I don't regret it." Juniper said.  
"You weren't always singing that tune. His poverty was noble and romantic at first, but it soon soured for you. If you had married a man more suited to your own temperament and social circle, who treated you as a partner, and not a lover, you would have been much happier."

"I was Charlie's partner. As well as his lover." Juniper growled.  
"Charlotte Williams came to see me today." Eames interrupted the bickering.

Ariadne looked at him in surprise. He had be quite all night.  
"Who is she?" his friend asked.  
"I meet her at the party. We had a nice talk." he said and didn't look at her.  
"How nice, darling." Juniper said and tried to give him a smile which he did not return.


	17. Chapter 17

_~ Part III ~_

_~ The Divide ~_

1.

~ "So are you going to marry Charlotte?" Juniper asked as the dinner party adjourned to the library.  
"Mother, I hardly think we're there yet." Eames grumbled as he watched Ariadne take Phillipa to her room for the night.

He wanted to chase after them. Explain that he had only mentioned Charlotte to make her mad and perhaps a little jealous. A hope that Ariadne could know how angry he was at her for spending time with Fredrick.

"I think she's a lovely girl with a good head on her shoulders." Juniper said.  
"The fact is, Eames." Lady Percy interrupted when they were sure Ariadne was out of the room. "That we have little time to get you settled into a marriage."  
"Precisely. As soon as the money reverts back to Arthur's widow, she will marry this Fredrick person, and take our fortune with her." Juniper said.  
"Cast out of our ancestral home? I couldn't tolerate it." Lady Percy added.

Eames looked at his Aunt. The older woman still had not fully recovered from her illness and looked too sickly to be up and about.  
"I'm aware of the situation, Aunt. I'm not ready to make plans with Charlotte or anyone else." he said.  
"You need to make plans, Charles." Juniper hissed. "You have to secure this estate through a marriage."

"What if I marry Ariadne?" Eames suggested. "We get along well enough."

"Certainly not." Lady Percy scoffed. "The widow of your cousin?"

"Why not? She already lives here and her daughter is related to us." Eames said.

"Charles, it would be best if you married a girl more familiar with how a house like this should be run. Ariadne is a fine girl, but she's used to a more simple life." Juniper cooed. "I mean, the slacks and not having a nanny for Olivia. It's perfectly scandalous."

"Ariadne and I are very similar in our ideals. I have no problem with a forward thinking wife." Eames argued.  
"We need a lady of the house who will host dinner parties and balls. A thing Ariadne has failed to do since she arrived here." Lady Percy added.  
"When she arrived here, Blue Rivers was on the verge of bankruptcy. Also, she had a new baby to deliver and care for. All these things take precedence over some party, Aunt." Eames said. "Let's stop pretending what this is really about. You like Ariadne, but the fact is; she's an American girl and will never fit into our society."

"Well, I'm glad you said it." Lady Percy muttered. "It would have sounded perfectly ghastly coming from me."

~ "What do you think of cousin Eames' friend?" Ariadne whispered as she tucked Phillipa in her bed.  
"She's very pretty. But not very nice." Phillipa told her.

Ariadne nodded. She wished she knew what this mysterious Charlotte person looked like. Eames seemed to like her well enough to bring her up at dinner. She hated to admit it that her heart burned with jealousy.

"Will he marry her?" Phillipa asked.

"I'm not sure." Ariadne whispered.

"Will you marry that man with the little boy?" she asked.  
"Phillipa, that's grown up talk. We don't need to worry about that now." Ariadne whispered.

"If you do get married, can I come and visit you?" the girl asked.  
"Of course." Ariadne said with a smile. "When your season comes, you'll need me to help you. And when you get married, I'll be there to help you with the wedding as well. I'm not leaving you, Phillipa." she whispered and kissed the girl on the top of the head.

She stood to leave and gasped in fright when she saw Eames standing in the door.  
"I wanted to say good night to Phillipa." he said and didn't bother to look at his friend.

"Will we go out again tomorrow?" Phillipa asked hopefully.  
"Certainly. We have to develop our film tomorrow to." he told her.

Eames leaned down and kissed Phillipa on the cheek.

"Are you going to say goodnight to Olivia?" he asked Ariadne, again without looking at her.  
"Olivia is staying in my room again." Ariadne told him curtly as she shut the door to Phillipa's bedroom.

"Why?" he asked.

They were alone in the hall, and free for the first time that day to be honest.  
"Because I want her in my room, Eames. I'm also going to be locking my door for now on." she told him and turned to go.

He grabbed her arm and she pulled free. Her eyes angry.  
"This Fredrick person, why is he coming around?" Eames asked her.  
"That's not your business." she told him.  
"I'm your closets male relative. You're under my house and protection. It's in every way my concern." Eames said.

Ariadne shrugged and looked proud of herself.  
"Fredrick has asked to court me with the intention of a marriage before he goes to war. I've accepted his terms." she told him coldly.

Eames felt that poison seep into his blood again. His heart stopping at the idea of his Ariadne marrying some mercenary from Town.  
"Does he know of your situation? That you have no prospects other than what this estate provides you?" Eames whispered.  
"Fredrick doesn't seem to care." Ariadne told him.  
"Of course he cares." Eames growled.  
"It is possible a man might be interested in a woman beyond money, Mr. Eames. Love, for example." she told him.  
"Yet you don't want my love." he added.

She looked as if she had been struck and her breathing picked up slightly.  
"What about this Charlotte person? You've never entertained ladies at Blue Rivers before. What is she to you?" Ariadne asked.  
"She wants me to marry her. She's the only one who will have me. I see no reason not to marry her." Eames said.

"Well, our love lives are coming along nicely." Ariadne said stiffly.  
"I won't." Eames started to say then lost his courage.

"You won't what?" Ariadne taunted.  
"I won't marry her if you don't wish it. I love you. I want to marry you." he whispered.

Ariadne looked as if she wanted to say something. Her face became softer as they stood in the hallway alone.

"If you do marry her, will I still have a home here?" she whispered sadly.  
"Of course." Eames breathed and tried to take her hand.

She moved away from him.  
"I don't think I will. Fredrick has offered me a comfortable home for Olivia and I. We'll be able to live there and it will be our home forever." she said and sniffed back a tear.  
"Blue Rivers is your home." Eames insisted.

"Blue Rivers is your home now. Your home and whom ever you marry." Ariadne said and turned to leave him.

"Ariadne." he called back and watched her enter her bedroom; the lock on her door turning.


	18. Chapter 18

2.

~ "Oh what charming girls!" the ladies cried out as Ariadne and Olivia arrived with Fredrick to an after church luncheon at his Aunt and Uncles.

Ariadne wasn't religious and Arthur had never even set foot in the chapel who's church yard his headstone was placed in. But Fredrick had asked her and Olivia to join him for the Sunday service, and she was very glad she had agreed.

Fredrick had paid her visits every day for a week now and she had been looking forward to seeing the Aunt and Uncle who he was staying with. She had no idea the small village house would be so crowded with people.

"Oh, she's such a doll!" Fredrick's Aunt exclaimed as Ariadne gratefully handed her daughter to the older woman. Olivia was becoming too heavy lately to carry, and was intent on running off on her own these days anyway.  
"Looks just like a doll! A living doll!" another older woman exclaimed and they huddled around Ariadne and brought them into the kitchen.

She gave a worried look to Fredrick who only waved at her before going off to talk with the men.  
"You're so lucky to have your baby, dear." the ladies said as she was guided into the female domain of the house. There, Fredrick's other relatives, all women and girls, were sitting around the parlor, playing the piano, cooking, mixing, baking and chattering away.

"Oh yes, with your husband's passing and all." another agreed.

The older women were all plump like little balls of dough. All of them giggling like school girls as they talked and gossiped about things.

The teenage girls were huddled about the window boxes whispering about secret things and Ariadne was left to watch her daughter be fawned over as if she were the most wonderful child in the world.  
"Such a beauty she'll be!" one older woman exclaimed. "She looks just like a young princess Victoria."

Ariadne was about to argue when she noticed the family had a large color print of the young queen at her coronation over the mantle. There was even fresh holly placed around the frame to show their liking for the queen even if King Edward had taken her place.  
"That's very kind of you." Ariadne said as Olivia, recognizing the comparison to royalty, looked around her subjects with a haughty air.  
"I'm not sure where she gets her good looks from." Ariadne added as she felt shabby in her simple long skirt and white lace blouse.

"Do you talk like that all the time?" one of the teenage girls said as she looked her over.  
"She's an American, of course she talks like that!" Fredrick's Aunt scolded. "And she's the lady of Blue Rivers!"

"Not anymore." Ariadne said as Olivia took to wandering over the rooms; soaking up all the attention from the females of the clan.

It was a lovely afternoon. The women were chatty and friendly. They served wonderful, foods in the cozy rooms. Fredrick sat next to Ariadne as the group seemed to enjoy the virtues of being so informal.

"All the girls are worried there won't be a season if the boys all go to war." Fredrick's Aunt told them as the family talked about news and politics.

The sitting room was crowded, the children had to sit on the floor, but it was comfortable and Ariadne felt a faint stab of jealousy.

'_Was this how a family was supposed to be?_' she wondered. '_A crowd of people playing charades in a cozy sitting room. Everyone laughing and having fun. Everyone happy to be together._'

She had never had this growing up. Her parents kept her at arms length and when she was at school, the girls could be very catty to her. She had a very small group of friends, but she didn't want to think about going back to Blue Rivers soon. The big house that was so empty and cold. Her large bedroom that was lonely even with Olivia there.

Fredrick leaned in closer to her and took her hand as they sat on the sofa by the fire. Olivia asleep with the other young children upstairs.  
"Two words." Fredrick called out as a plump little neighbor girl animatedly bounced up and down at her turn.

The girl nodded and waved her fingers up and down.

"Rain?" Ariadne guessed.

The girl shook her head.  
"Fingers?" Fredrick asked and the rest of the people in their team threw out guesses.  
"They'll never guess. Might as well forfeit now!" his uncle challenged.  
"Like hell." Fredrick laughed as the girl tried desperately to act out something falling.  
"That's time!" His aunt called out excitedly. "Times up!"

"Uh!" the girl cried out. "_Snow man!_" she shouted to her team.

~ "I had fun today." Ariadne said as Fredrick drove her and Olivia back to Blue Rivers a few hours later.  
"So you like the party then?" he asked.  
"Very much so. I'm not used to being around a large family." she told him.  
Fredrick laughed.

"My Aunt and Uncle are the only one's I'm related to by blood. The rest are their neighbors, school friends and their kids. They love to host parties and have people over. I'm afraid I haven't much in the way of family anymore." he told her sadly. "I brought Harold here to at least feel like he has family."

"Well, they kept saying Olivia looked like a young queen Victoria." Ariadne laughed as her daughter slept peacefully in her lap.

Fredrick was careful as he drove them over the dirt roads and stone bridges back to Blue Rivers.

"That's high praise coming from that lot." Fredrick said with a smile. "They never did care for any other monarch."

He looked at Olivia nestled sweetly in Ariadne's arms.  
"I wish my Mia could have held our boy just as you're holding her now." he said sadly.  
"I wish my Arthur could have played with her the way you play with Harold today." she whispered.  
Fredrick gave her a little smile and drove on.

"What a pair we make, Ariadne." he said at last.

~ "May I come and see you tomorrow?" Fredrick asked as she climbed out of the car and had to ignore the pain in her back from Olivia being too heavy.

Miles had come out of the house to greet them and let her inside.  
"We've seen each other every day for a week now." Ariadne said with a smile as her cheeks felt very warm.  
"Yes, but tomorrow, I'll be leaving for London. Then, I'll be enlisting. Our time is precious." Fredrick told her.

"Enlisting?" Ariadne repeated numbly.

She gave Fredrick a confused look.  
"You'll go to war?" she asked.  
"Yes."

"What about Harold? Who will look after him? Your Aunt and Uncle are older and he's still very young." Ariadne told him.

Fredrick looked slightly embarrassed. She realized then what he was wanting. Why he was courting her at all.  
"Oh." she said softly.

"This war promises to be unlike any we've ever faced. I may not make it back home, and I want Harold to be looked after." Fredrick explained.  
"So you'll marry me, so that I'll take care of your son if you die?" Ariadne asked.  
"I'll have a house for you, and a modest living allowance. Schooling for the children will be provided for." he assured her.

Ariadne let out a nervous laugh.  
"I thought... I thought you liked me." she said sadly.

"I do. I really like you. I think I could care for you greatly. It's just with the war on, it's not an ideal situation." Fredrick said.

Ariadne nodded and tried not to cry.  
"So this is a marriage of convenience?" she whispered.

"All marriages are convenient ones." Fredrick said as the snow started to fall on them.


	19. Chapter 19

3.

~ Eames felt his stomach grow sour as his mother, Aunt Percy and Charlotte talked and gossiped after dinner in the ladies parlor. He wished Ariadne would come home from her visit with Fredrick and his family. Life was boring at Blue Rivers without her to divert his boredom.

Charlotte had turned up at his mother's invitation for lunch, then the women had given her a tour of the grand house, followed by visiting that sounding like the clucking of hens.

Eames wished another male presence was there. He found he was even wanting Arthur there so that he could have someone to talk to who wasn't interested in clothing, the up coming season, or Mrs. So-and-So's daughter who had run off with the groomsman.

Arthur was wonderful in that he didn't care about such things. His cousin was practical to the last and would not have allowed himself to be roped into the ladies parlor with this horrible Charlotte Williams sitting so close to him as the three women discussed decorating.

"Of course my portrait had to be re-hung." Aunt Percy was saying.  
"Now it clashes with everything." Juniper said scathingly.

"Is it my fault you have such poor taste?" Lady Percy said.

Eames felt Charlotte move closer to him as the two women bickered. He automatically shifted away from her.

If Arthur was here, he would have excused himself in the rudest way possible and gone to the library. Eames wished he has some of his American cousin's bravado just now. His manners were too ingrained into him and thus he was forced to listen to the women of the house cluck and chatter all day long.

It was late, there was another snowfall underway, and Ariadne still wasn't back yet from her visit. It had turned into an all day affair with Fredrick and he was getting worried.

Finally, he saw headlight out the window and sat up a little straighter. He heard Miles walking across the hall to welcome Ariadne and Olivia home.

He resisted the urge to run out of the ladies parlor an yell at her for being so late.

It was all he could do not to casually look out the window and see her.

The women in the room seemed to notice that the outsider had returned and their tone of talking stopped abruptly. Lady Percy pretended great interest in her painting and Juniper wore a secretive smile and wouldn't look directly at anyone.

Eames heard Ariadne's foot steps in the hall and the sounds of them not going to the ladies parlor, but up stairs. Eames' friend avoiding the party that didn't want her.  
"Thank God." Juniper whispered and Charlotte giggled.  
Eames jumped to his feet and raced out the door.

There his great love was, holding the sleeping toddler in her arms and being greeted by Maura.  
"You're back." he said breathlessly. Not bothering to disguise his own happiness.

She turned to look at him. Her face a little distracted looking.  
"I'm back." she said and gave the baby to her maid to put to sleep.

"We've been waiting for you. Mother and Aunt." He said and waved at the ladies parlor when he knew the women there were straining their ears to overhear their conversation.  
"I'm tired." Ariadne said.  
"Did you have a good time?" Eames asked.

'_Please let her have had a horrible time. Please let her hate Fredrick and say she never wants to see him again._' he thought.

"I did have a nice time. Fredrick's family is very nice." she told him as Maura carried Olivia upstairs.

"Oh." Eames said and put his hands in his pockets.

'_Good. Good for her. I had a nice time to._' he thought bitterly.

"We had a fine time with you gone." he said in a voice much harsher that he intended. "Charlotte came over and stayed the day. It was good have her here. To have someone to talk to."

She gave him a cold look.  
"I'm sure it was." she said at last.

She shifted on her feet.

"So, things are going well for the two of you?" she asked.

"Very well." he said with a false brightness he felt sure she would see through.  
"So... Charlotte is... is she still here?" Ariadne asked tentatively.

"Yes. Would you like to meet her?" he asked and took her hand.

~ Ariadne took a deep breath and allowed her friend to lead her into the ladies parlor.

"Oh, Ariadne, Dear." Juniper said with transparent cheerfulness. "How was your visit? I know it must have been nice to spend time with people more befitting your social status."

Ariadne recognized the thinly veiled insult and let it roll off her.  
"It was very nice. Fredrick is lucky to have such a delightful family. I don't think Olivia and I have felt so welcome by any family since we came to England." she said.

Lady Percy balanced slightly and Ariadne caught sight of the fabled Charlotte.

She was a slim, pretty young woman. Her face was intelligent and it was obvious that she came from good breeding. She lacked none of the homeliness of common people.

"Charlotte Williams." Eames said and stood behind Ariadne as if she were a shield.  
"Pleased to meet you." Ariadne said as Charlotte stood to her full and graceful height. Making Ariadne feel like a stupid, ugly dwarf next to her.

"So you and Mr. Fredrick Hays?" Charlotte said. "I think you would make a charming couple."

"I think so to." Ariadne said and suddenly felt so plain, so out of place against these women in their dinner finery. Their beaded dresses, their ancestral home, their assurance of their place in this world.

She could tell by the way they avoided looking at her that these women didn't want here there. She was an intruder. She was an inconvenience.

"In fact... Fredrick had made me an offer of marriage... and I've decided to accept." Ariadne said bravely.

"What?" Eames barked.  
"Oh dear, that's wonderful news!" Exclaimed Juniper. "Such an appropriate match!"

"Yes, Fredrick is a fine you man." Lady Percy said darkly.

"And you'll be living with him in Town, certainly. Taking Olivia with you." Juniper added.

"Yes, Fredrick wants us to be married before he goes to war." Ariadne told them and avoided Eames.

She sensed he was breathing hard and her body gave a slight tremble.  
"Yes, it's wonderful." she heard him growl.

Eames stepped away from her and stood next to Charlotte.  
"I wanted to wait to do this; Charlotte and I are going to be married as well." he announced.

His Aunt and mother mother both cried out in shock and joy.

"Oh, this is so wonderful, Charles!" Juniper sang. "We'll have the wedding soon at the chapel!"

"The sooner the better." Eames said and didn't look at Ariadne as his bride looked like a happy well fed cat.

_~ New York City ~_

_~ November, 1914 ~_

~ Cobb stepped into the working class restaurant and scanned the dirty men there.

The talking, the jerking profanity and loud drunkenness stopped when the well dressed lawyer walked in.

Cobb was out of place in such an environment. A fact made cleared when all eyes were on him as if he had just sprouted a second head.

He swallowed hard and looked around the room. Hoping against hope, he wouldn't see him here.

It couldn't be real. It was too insane to be real.

He saw the young man in a dim little booth. His thin body swallowed up by the workman's coat he was wearing. The woolen cap pulled over his head made him look like another person entirely.

Cobb ignored the odd stares and went to sit across from the man.

"Can I get you anything?" the waitress asked.  
"Coffee." Cobb asked. "Have you eaten?" he asked the man.

"Not hungry." his new friend said.  
"You sure? You look like you could use a good meal, sir." Cobb implored.  
"Don't_ sir _me." the man growled and Cobb noticed how hallowed his eyes looked.

The waitress nodded and left them in peace.  
"Why are you just now contacting me? It's been five months." Cobb asked.

The man lit a cigarette and didn't answer.  
"I was arrested. Drunken disorderly in Brooklyn. Spent three months at welfare island. Just got out." he said.

"Why didn't you contact me before? Or better yet, right after the damn thing happened? I'm not hard to find." Cobb growled as the waitress brought his coffee.

The man across from him looked troubled.  
"It wasn't easy. I was sick... I don't know what I was. I started working in the ship yard. The thing made sense." he said.  
"Nothing makes sense here." Cobb said harshly. "Do you have any idea what you've done?"

The man in the wool cap shook his head.  
"I know. I know this is complicated. I wasn't sure if I should even contact you." he admitted.

Cobb leaned back in his seat and looked him over.  
"What happened, Arthur?" he said at last. "Why didn't you tell us you survived the sinking of the _Empress_?"


	20. Chapter 20

_~ Part IV ~_

_~ The Evil Men Do ~_

1.

~ "I told you, I... I wasn't well." Arthur said and rubbed his hands together. Cobb noticed for the first time that the normally smooth skin of his friend's hands were now worn and callused.

"You told me that, but what does that mean?" he asked.

Arthur looked uncomfortable.  
"After the sinking... I can't explain it. I was grouped in with the crew. I... I wasn't even asked my name for a days after. I gave them the name John Smith and they were fine with it. I was put up in a boarding house for a week and given some money. I worked the docks because that's what everyone around me did. I... it was like... before the sinking, I was another man." Arthur said.

"Another man?" Cobb repeated.

Arthur looked up at his friend hopefully.  
"Arthur, you realize you've been declared dead. Your wife, Ariadne, thinks your dead. I attended you funeral for Christ sake!"

"I'm sorry, I know... I know I should have said something before now. I had a break down a few weeks after the sinking. I was put into some kind of sanatorium for a month. The doctors called it some kind of stress related trauma. Then, when I got out, I started drinking." Arthur explained.  
"All this time, you could have contacted my office." Cobb lectured.  
"I know." Arthur said sadly.  
"Arthur, you don't know. This is not just about having you declared alive again. It won't be easy, but I can do it. It's about the entail of Blue Rivers. Your assets, you holdings, everything is now in the possession of your cousin Charles Ray Eames." Cobb said.  
"I know." Arthur said. "It's a problem."

"It's more than a problem! We need to collect witness statements, have your prints taken. Have your factory foremen make a swore testimony you're still alive. Not to mention how we'll break the news to Ariadne." Cobb ranted.  
"I don't want her to know." Arthur interrupted.  
"What?"

"You heard me. I don't want her to know." Arthur said sadly.  
"She's you're wife." Cobb said.  
"She _was_ my wife. I married her for my own convenience. Love wasn't involved when we said 'I Do'." Arthur said and pulled out a battered newspaper clipping. "I saw this, yesterday. I've been keeping up with her."

He placed the already well worn newspaper clipping on the table and Cobb saw the black and white photograph of Ariadne Bradford and Fredrick Hays.

"She's going to marry him. It's her wedding announcement." Arthur said sadly.

"We need to telegraph her; tell her you're still alive." Cobb said beseechingly.

"I already told you, no!" Arthur growled.  
"Arthur." Cobb sighed.  
"This man is the husband of her choosing. She can finally have the wedding I denied her. She might really love him." Arthur insisted.  
"So what? You want to work the docks forever as John Smith?" Cobb snarled.  
"Am I correct in assuming the entail is still in effect?" Arthur asked. "Including all it's clauses?"

"What do you mean?" Cobb asked.  
"Eames is getting married." Arthur said and pulled out another clipping. This one much larger than Ariadne's wedding announcement. It was high society news and came with large pictures of Eames with his prospective bride as well as full biographies.

"He's getting married to secure his fortune, isn't he? MY money." Arthur reiterated.  
"So you want Eames to know you're alive, but no one else?" Cobb asked.

"I'd rather Eames not know I'm alive either. He's all the way in Europe and he's going into the army. He might die over there. I want my money to come back to my control. It's not right Ariadne was left penniless." Arthur said.  
"So, you want your money back, so you can take care of your wife. But you want your wife to marry this other man?" Cobb asked.  
"Correct." Arthur said and sat a little straighter. "I want her and Olivia provide for. You can tell her anything you want. That you were able to break the entail and she would be granted a living allowance for her and Olivia. Enough that she would always be comfortable. I don't want her to have to live off of Eames' charity or anyone else."

Cobb looked at his old friend. A shell of a man now.

"Arthur, you don't look well. I want you to come home with me. I'm married now to a very nice lady. We can get you back on your feet and healthy again." he said.

"I have a room at a boarding house." Arthur said.

"I want you to stay with us." Cobb said.

When it looked like he might object again, Cobb said sharply.

"You're either going to get healthy, or I'm telegraphing Ariadne tonight and have her stop the wedding." Cobb said.

~ "Now, I don't want you to expect too much of a turn out for your own reception, dear." Juniper said as she helped Ariadne into her wedding dress.

It was the final fitting and Ariadne had chosen a very simple pale gold. It was her second marriage, and Juniper absolutely refused to let her wear white. Or have anything to heavily decorated.

Still, Ariadne liked the whole preparation for her big day. It would be the day before Eames' wedding to Charlotte. They would even re-use the flowers in the chapel. Charlotte had jokingly called it a dry run for her own wedding.

Still, Ariadne didn't care. Her nuptials with Arthur had been so hurried and informal, it was nice to have a real wedding celebration.

"Charlotte has so many friends and relatives coming in for the big day. She was very popular in school." Juniper added as Ariadne admired herself in the French lace veil Lady Percy had lent her as something borrowed. It was a little old fashioned, her mother had worn it on her wedding day in 1840, but it was very becoming on Ariadne.

It was styled after Queen Victoria's wedding veil and sat on the back of her tide back hair.

"You look beautiful, Missus." Maura told her.

Ariadne smiled at her reflection and wished she could be a bride forever.

She turned to her daughter who was walking around the room.  
"What do you think, Olivia? Will mommy do?" she asked.

The toddler was indifferent to the wedding dress and only cared about pulling things off the vanity table and letting them drop on the floor.

"A ringing endorsement." Ariadne laughed.

She turned to her reflection and tried to imagine Fredrick at her side at the alter.

She tried to picture his handsome face, his bright blue eyes.

A pain went off in her heart as all she pictured was Arthur at her side.

Rather that fight it, she gave into the fantasy a little.

This was how she should have married Arthur. Not at some court house in New York. She should have worn a real wedding dress and been a real bride. Not just some half scared girl in a silly hat marrying a man she met two hours ago.

Now, she was having the wedding she always wanted. She had telegraphed her parents to tell them of Arthur's death. Then to tell them she was getting married. She never heard a response.

Lady Juniper had questioned her insistently about why her mother wasn't going to be at the wedding. To which Ariadne pretended to not hear her questions.

Juniper gave Maura some very curt orders about taking some of the bead work off of the wedding dress.

"This is a second marriage and it won't do to have her too grand." she instructed.

Ariadne rolled her eyes. No expense was spared when it came to Charlotte's dress. It was beaded and regal and perfect in every way. Her cake was tiered and decorated. Her wardrobe was from France and her father had bought her and Eames a new car as a wedding present.

Compared to Charlotte, Ariadne was the poor relative.

Juniper left them then and Maura stitched the bead work tighter into place.  
"I'm glad I'll be coming with you and Mr. Hays when you're married, Missus." she said.

"Maura, I would never leave you here. I can't do without you." Ariadne assured her.

"Thank you, Missus. I couldn't bear it if I was parted from you and little Olivia. You've always been so kind to me. I wouldn't want to stay with Mr. Eames and his new wife. She's horrid." Maura said.

She stood back to look at her handy work as Ariadne didn't hid the self satisfied grin on her face.

"I'm glad your going to marry this Mr. Hays. Maggie and the other maids were all whispering that you were going to marry Mr. Eames. I told them no, I told them you and Mr. Eames were just friendly. But they thought you were more then that." Maura said and gently adjusted Ariadne's veil.

"Why would they think that?" Ariadne asked.

The cold creeper of worry coming back over her. The servants whispering, whispering about her and Eames. That chamber maid had seen them in bed together and now there was gossip.

"Just that you and Mr. Eames are close. They thought he would propose to you, but I'm glad your sticking with a man like Mr. Hays. I told them you always did have the best taste in men." Maura said.

~ Eames couldn't write.

He stared at his note books for inspiration. Reading the words over and over, yet nothing sank in.

He let out a sigh. He had never had writers block before. He hadn't been able to write a damn thing since that night he had spent in Ariadne's bed. He woke up full of inspiration and ready to write a great love story. That love story now seemed meaningless and hollow. His great love was leaving him and he was powerless to stop her.

"Sir?" came Miles' voice.

Eames snapped up and saw the congenial butler standing ten feet away. Well aware of Eames' rules for trespassing in the conservatory.

"What is it?" Eames snarled.  
"So sorry to disturb you, sir." Miles said. "But you have a visitor."

~ Eames wouldn't allow any visitors into the conservatory any more. It was bad enough others had been in there. That others had invaded the safe world he had with Ariadne. He had had this visitor wait for him in the library.

Eames couldn't believe it when he saw who it was.

"What are you doing back here?" he asked as Cobb stood and shook his hand.

"I came for Ariadne's wedding." Cobb said with a false brightness.  
"You made a trip all the way from America to see her get re-married. You _are_ a good friend." Eames laughed. "Did her parent's come with you?"

Cobb let out a sigh.  
"I'm afraid not. I went to Philadelphia myself. Very troubling news I'm afraid." he said as Eames poured him some brandy.  
"What's happened?" Eames asked.  
"Thank you." Cobb said as he took his drink. "Ariadne's father died last winter."

"My God." Eames said. "Ariadne doesn't know?"

"No. I don't know how to tell her either." Cobb said.

"Not on her wedding day. Wait a few weeks. The dead can wait." Eames advised.  
"I'll do that." Cobb said.  
"First Arthur, then her father." Eames added.

Cobb pretended to look out the window.

"I've also come about a business matter. It has to do with Arthur's estate." Cobb said.  
"I'll be getting married. So the entail will be secure." Eames said.

"Whether or not you get married will not effect anything. The entail is broken." Cobb said.

Eames stared at him.

"What?"

"Yes, certain laws supersede the original entail. Arthur is an American and the will didn't stipulate the new acquisition of wealth or property from someone born outside the country." Cobb said. "It seems Arthur had no right to inherit Blue Rivers to begin with. Hence, his money, his factories and holdings are no longer apart of Blue Rivers estate."

"How can this be?" Eames breathed in shock.  
Cobb shrugged.  
"I made it my business to look for loopholes in the law." he said. "For Ariadne's sake."

"This should have come to light _before_ he took control of the estate." Eames snarled.  
"It's not the end of the world, Eames." Cobb said patiently.

"The hell it's not."  
"You can keep the phone hub and Arthur's estate will not demand it's money back for the repairs done to the house. But, the rest will go into a trust for Ariadne and Olivia. They will have no right to live here at Blue Rivers, but they will have the means to live where the choose now." Cobb said.

"So, what does that mean mean for me?" Eames asked.

"It means, you inherit the house, the title, the phone hub, but nothing else. I'm not sure if the phone hub will make enough to finance the run of this house, but it's all I can offer." Cobb said.  
"My bride is only marrying me to protect the money. Her words mind you." Eames said. The room spinning. "The hub will not provide enough to secure the running of this house."  
"I'm sorry, Eames." Cobb said.  
"I'm sorry to."

"Will you still marry this Charlotte person?" Cobb asked.  
"I'm not sure."

"I need to speak to Ariadne. I want her to know she doesn't have to marry anyone just to have money and protection. Also, we need to secure her assets before and if she gets married.

Eames was nodding as Cobb rang for Miles. Blue Rives, Ariadne, his whole world was fading away.


	21. Chapter 21

2.

~ "What do you mean the money is _gone_?" Charlotte growled.

Eames shrugged as his bride sat in the ladies parlor next to his mother and Aunt. Her once pretty face now pulled and contorted into a disproving scowl.  
"Charles what are you talking about?" Juniper asked with wide, scared eyes.  
"It seems our dear departed cousin Arthur had no legal claim to Blue Rivers. He wasn't born in the country, and the entail is broken. So, all his money and what have you, is to go back to Ariadne and Olivia." he explained.

"This is outrageous!" Charlotte snapped as she stood up and tossed her bridal veil on the sofa.

"We'll be allowed to keep the phone hub, whatever that's worth. I have some stocks that will bring in some money. We also have our rented farm lands to bring in income." Eames said.  
"Charles!" Juniper gasped and looked ready to cry.

"Will we lose the house?" Lady Percy said. "The land?"

The old woman ever sensible and ration.  
"No. And the estate won't charge us for the upgrades Arthur made." Eames told him.  
"Well, we're still better off then we were three years ago." Lady Percy said. "We can let go some of the staff, close up a wing or two."

"Aunt Percy!" Juniper scolded.  
"How could you let this happen?" Charlotte hissed at him.  
"Miss Williams, I know this is a bit last minute, but there is the door if you don't want to marry a cash poor man with a house he can't afford to run and a silly title." Eames bit back.

Charlotte gave his a murderous look before storming out of the ladies parlor.  
"Charles, your wedding is in a few days!" Juniper said.

"I don't think there's going to be a wedding, mother." Eames said sadly.

"So, the money will go with Ariadne?" Lady Percy asked reasonably.  
"Yes." Eames said.  
"Then the solution is obvious. Ariadne and her daughter must stay here. We must keep her here for Fredrick's absence during the war. Her new income will more then pay for the running of the house." Lady Percy said.  
"I think Fredrick wants her in London. It's where his son is." Eames said.  
"Nonsense. She doesn't know anyone there. She can bring the boy here to Blue Rivers. We will make her feel this is her home and she will never leave it."

~ Ariadne stared at Cobb in disbelief.  
"How could this have happened?" she asked as he sat across from her.

She had held no prejudices about using the sacred conservatory to entertain her guest the way Eames had. Cobb was more than welcome in the place she and Eames did all their writing.

"It's complicated." Cobb explained.

"Well then explain it. Explain how one second I'm a poor relation, and the next, I'm wealthy." she said.

The news that she was no longer a penniless widow was a great shock and she could tell Cobb had chosen his words carefully.  
"Arthur had no legal rights to the estate to start with. He was born in America and he never had the power to assume the estate." Cobb explained.  
"I don't believe that." Ariadne snapped.

Cobb looked up at her in surprise.  
She shook her head.  
"Arthur was many things, but he was never that careless. He wouldn't have invested so much of his money, married me and moved across the globe if he thought there was any chance at all that he might not be the legal heir. And you're a better lawyer then that, Cob."

Cobb flushed.

"What's really going on?" she demanded.  
"It's just like I told you. You'll be granted a small living allowance. You can stay here in Blue Rivers if they will have you, but you'll have more then enough to keep a house and staff in London, or-" he took a deep breath. "Or, New York even."

"New York?" she questioned. "Cobb, I'm getting married tomorrow."

"Which is why we need to settle this matter now. Otherwise, the money becomes apart of your marital property. You don't have to tell Fredrick about the money. You don't have to tell him anything at all in fact."

Ariadne let out a sigh as she watched Olivia play with her dolls on the warm floor of the conservatory. The bitter winter chill not touching them in this warm, safe place.  
"In fact, you don't have to marry this man if you don't want to. You have money now to ensure your safety. It's what the estate wants." Cobb added.  
"What the _estate_ wants?" Ariadne laughed. "You say that like it's a person."

"Arthur would have wanted you provide for. I know he would have. You don't have to marry him. You can come to New York. You and Olivia, you can stay with Mal and I. We can leave today." he said hopefully.  
"Cobb, I'm getting married in 24 hours. Fredrick is a very nice man." she said with a laugh.

He was being so ridiculous right now.

"So, you love him?" Cobb asked sadly.  
"I... it doesn't matter." she said. "He's a very nice man and I've agreed to marry him."

"And women never back out of a marriage. Eames' bride is doing it right now." Cobb told her.  
"Is Charlotte really leaving him?" Ariadne asked.  
Cobb nodded.

"Eames has no money left. Only the phone hub and the rental property. It's hardly enough to pay for the upkeep of a house like this." he said.

"No, I suppose not. Eames never cared about money." she offed.  
"He never cared about money till he saw what he can buy with it. Family honor, a society wife and the ability to keep you here and under his thumb. Arthur knows that, that's why he wants you to have enough money to live on your own."

"_Arthur knows that_?" Ariadne repeated. Not understanding.

"Arthur _knew_ that." Cobb corrected. "When he was alive, he knew what Eames was like."  
"Cobb, if Arthur was still with us, we wouldn't be having this conversation. I would still be his wife and hopefully with another baby on the way. It kills me that I will never have his child." she said sadly.

~ Cobb looked down at his hands and said nothing.

Ariadne sniffed back a tear as they both tried not to think about all that was lost when the '_Empress_' sank.

"I'm sorry, Ariadne." Cobb said at last.

She shook her head.

"Look, I do need you to sign these forms saying you accept the trust for you and Olivia. I've taken care of everything, just sign." he said.

Cobb held his breath as Ariadne didn't read the large packet of papers. Most of them meaningless. She didn't even glance at the divorce documents hidden in the middle. Just signed and dated it without reading.

Cobb's heart was racing as he fought the urge to tell her the truth. That Arthur was still alive. That he was divorcing her so she could marry someone else and be happy. That he was providing for her so she didn't have to marry if she didn't want to.  
"Ariadne?" he said after she dried her eyes. "I plan to take some pictures at the wedding tomorrow, but could I get a quick picture of you and Olivia right now?"

She looked back at him strangely.  
"Mal and I wanted a picture of the two of you." Cobb laughed.

"Oh, alright." she said and went to pick Olivia up.

Cobb aimed the brownie at the two of them. He had gotten to camera in New York and Mal told him he didn't have the talent for photography. It was too much to do, take the light gauge, adjust the filter and focus.

Olivia was fussy and Ariadne sensed he didn't know what he was doing, but they both sat on the sofa and waited for him to get the picture just right.

"Okay, hold still." he said and Ariadne gave the camera a small smile.  
"Okay, wait... one... two... wait."

"Just take the picture, Cobb." Ariadne snapped as Olivia whined to be put back down.

Cobb snapped the picture and realized after it was developed that Ariadne wasn't smiling. That she and Olivia looked very uneasy.


	22. Chapter 22

3.

~ Ariadne couldn't sleep. Something she couldn't put a name to was clouding her mind, and she couldn't seem to shake it off.

She rolled over and looked at her daughter in bed with her.

Olivia was sleeping the untroubled sleep of youth. She didn't know, understand or care about the wedding tomorrow. She couldn't be made to know that Arthur had taken care of them beyond the grave.

Ariadne let out a deep sigh and wished Arthur was there.

She wanted someone rational to talk to. Someone who knew just the right things to say. Arthur was always rational, but seldom knew the exact comforting words to give her. Still, she missed the sounds of his voice. How reassuring he could be. How safe she always felt with him.

Fredrick was a nice man, but he never made her heart flutter like Arthur always did. With Arthur, she never knew if she was mad at him, or madly in love with him.

On a more primal level, she missed the feel of her husband next to her and know Fredrick could never take his place.

Ariadne decided to abandon sleep. She put Olivia in her crib and took a walk.

~ It was late, past midnight, and the house was still.

She had never roamed the house all alone in the dead of night before. As this was her last night at Blue Rivers, she soaked up every historical detail.

After wandering the grand halls, her feet took her to the conservatory. There were only so many haunts she favored, and the conservatory was her favorite.

She saw the glassed room was not dark and empty however. A dull light was coming in through the stained glass doors.

On silent feet, she stole into the conservatory and spied Eames typing.

Her friend was more proficient on the typewriter than she was. His fingers punched each key in a nice steady rhythm that sounded like horses trotting on the streets.

He was immersed in whatever world he was creating and she didn't want to disturb him. She knew one sound from her would make his world collapse; like being woken from a beautiful dream.

Finally, he stopped, looked over his work and ripped it out of the typewriter. He crumbled it up and tossed it away.

"Still having trouble writing?" Ariadne asked.

Eames didn't seem shocked to have her suddenly there. He barely turned around to see her.

"Some what." he said dully.

He placed a new clean sheet of paper in the roller and started over.

"Shouldn't you be sleeping? You've a big day tomorrow." he said. "Not everyday a girl marries her price charming."

"I couldn't sleep." Ariadne explained. "Did Cobb tell you? About the money?"

"About how Arthur's money is not apart of Blue Rivers estate? Yes, he told me. Charlotte took it the hardest. She was gone before dinner." Eames laughed.  
"I'm sorry." Ariadne whispered.

"I'm not. She's a horrible woman." he said and leaned back in his chair.

"But you liked her. I mean, you were going to marry her." Ariadne said and took the chair next to him.

"I only got engaged to her to make you mad. Because you're marrying Fredrick." he said with an exhausted sigh.

"Oh." she whispered.

They said nothing as Eames tried to re-group his writing.

"Will you move to London? While he's in the war?" Eames asked.

"It's what Fredrick wants me to do. He made it very clear my job was to take care of his son while he's gone and to look after him if he dies." Ariadne said sadly.  
Eames nodded.  
"I see." he said.

"You do?" she asked.

"It's not the first time a man has married you for convenience. You should be used to it by now."

"I thought he liked me." she said. Full of her own self pity.  
"I'm sure he does, but practicality will out." Eames said and didn't look at her.

"I want him to marry me because he loves me."

"Then don't marry him. Stay here." Eames said.  
She gave him a laugh.

"Your mother and Lady Percy don't want me here." she told them.  
"They don't even want _me_ here, if you want to know the truth. They want their living conditions safe guarded. That's all they care about." Eames said. "They want you and Olivia to stay and Harold to if it will mean the money stays."

Ariadne let out a sigh as she noticed Eames' eyes were blood shot. She looked over the little table and saw the crystal decanter from the library, normally filled with some kind of vile liquor, was almost gone.

"Have you been up all night drinking?" she asked.  
"You have no business asking me that. You're not my wife." Eames snarled.  
"I thought, after you drank yourself nearly dead, you gave it up." Ariadne said.

Eames shook his head.  
"My bride left me, I'm going to war in a few days, my family home is no longer secured and the one woman I love is marrying a man who doesn't love her and needs her only as a live in governess." he growled. "It's an excellent time to drink."

"Eames." she whispered.

"We could leave." he said suddenly. His face and voice changing to an almost child like hopefulness. "We could leave tonight. Take the car, drive to London. Go to America and live free. Change our names even. You have your money, we would be free of all our obligations."

"Eames, I've told you before." Ariadne said with difficulty. "I don't love you."  
Eames let out a laugh.  
"You're right. You can do better than me." he said soberly.

He looked at his type writer.  
"You know something admirable about Charlotte? One thing I _did_ like about her?" he asked.

Ariadne sniffed slightly and shook her head.

"She wasn't a tease. She knew what she wanted and went after it. She wasn't a coward, like you." he said bitterly.

She looked up at him. The look of hurt on her face so plain Eames sat back a little.

"You know what we did while we were alone in the library? Hmm? Very imaginative and degenerate things, darling. She didn't push me away with one hand while pulling me closer with the other. She knew she wanted my fortune, to be mistress of Blue Rivers, so she was quick to undo my pants and-".

"Stop it!" Ariadne cried and stood up.

She brushed the tears off her face.  
"You have no self respect. Why would you tell me such lies? To hurt me for marrying Fredrick?" she cried.  
"They're not lies." Eames said and helped himself to another drink. "I want you to know I pretended it was you the whole time she was sucking on me. It's important for you to know that."

"I don't want to know that! I don't' care!" Ariadne shouted at him.

Like a light switching on, Eames was a different person.

In one graceful movement, the crystal decanter was in his hand and over his head, smashing the expensive glass wear to the floor with the force his whole body.

Ariadne screamed from the shock of it.

"You _should_ care!" he growled as he marched to her. His shoes treading on the glass. "You should care about a man who actually loves you! I'm not a man who marries a woman because it's convenient. I'm a man who marries for love. But you don't care about that, you heartless bitch!"

He grabbed her with a force she had never known before. His hands stronger than she thought possible as she felt her wrist almost break from the force of his hold.

"Eames let me go!" she cried feebly as he forced her across the room to their sitting area.

His body was like a rock, and she wasn't strong enough to break free as he pushed and almost dragged her to the sofa.

"All I ever wanted was to love you." he growled as she tripped and almost fell to the floor. Eames' strong body picking her up and she cried out at the roughness of it.

"Ow! Eames!" she screamed as he shoved her to the sofa.  
"When Arthur died, I was _glad_." he hissed as he pinned down her arm. Her body was forced to lay half on and half off the sofa with no ability to move or escape.

"Eames!" Let me go! You're hurting me!" she cried as she tried to push him off.  
"I though, I'll have the woman I love. I'll finally have her. We can be a family. We can live the life I've always wanted. But_ you_..." he snarled like some kind of beast. "You wouldn't have that. I'm not good enough for you. So instead, you tormented me, you teased me with what I can't have."

"Eames!" she screamed as he roughly held her in place.

'_Oh God._' she realized. 'I_t's going to happen. He's going to do this._'

The idea came on her very suddenly that her best friend was going to force himself on her. She could see it in his eyes, he was holding her down and justifying raping her.

She had no idea why she was so calm. Why her breathing slowed as he he held her arms down with both hands.

She wasn't crying anymore. Wasn't fighting back. She could smell his drink on his breath as he kissed her and his hands went to her night dress.

The fabric tore effortlessly in his hands and he once more exposed her breasts.

"Who are you to tell me what I can't have?" he whispered as he held her hands down and his lips touched her nipple again.

It was like it was happening in slow motion.

The opportunity was so perfect, she seized it.

Eames was relaxed and unguarded, his hands holding her down. He had thought she had given up the fight and he wasn't looking for her resist him anymore.

Her leg shifted and she aimed her foot at his groin.

She kicked him as hard as if she meant to knock his manhood right off his body.

Eames immediately closed his body up like a frightened turtle.

He gave out a loud grunt and let her go.

Ariadne we scared. She had angered him now. Would he get up and hurt her? He was so much stronger than she was and now he was angry. He would recover and come after her now that she had hurt him.

Maybe she should have just let it happen.

As she crawled away from him and managed to cover her chest, she saw he wasn't in any condition to hurt her again.

He was breathing hard and his hands were covering the tender spot where she had kicked him.

Tears were streaming down his flushed face.

She suddenly felt victorious. She had won.  
"Tell me again how you love me!" she taunted him as she realized she was also crying.

"Ari-" he gasped as he couldn't seem to fight the waves of pain coming from her kick.

"Tell me again how much you love me! Show me how you love me by forcing yourself on me! Trying to seduce me while my husband was still alive! That's how you love women, isn't it? I'm marring Fredrick tomorrow and I will _never_ come to Blue River again!" she screamed.

Her rage felt like there was glass in her blood. She stood, gave the wounded man a good kick in his back, and made to leave to conservatory.

She spotted his precious typewriter on the table and, in a fleeting moment of revenge and power, she picked up the heavy "portable" device and heaved it to the floor.

It's bell gave a defeated chime as it broke next to the smashed crystal.

"Ariadne!" Eames growled from his fetal position on the floor. "Please!"

"Go to hell!" she snarled back at him. "Go to war, and never come back!"

**Bad News Kids! Hate to leave you on a cliff hanger, but I don't know for sure when I'll be able to update. My computer, which I love more then anything in the world aside from my iPad and my iPod, just CRASHED. I think it was a virus and when I went to stat it in safe mode, it didn't go away. **

**Best case, I can have it fixed by Monday. Wost case, I may have to buy a new computer. I don't think that will happen, but I've been wanting a Mac anyway. **

**SOOOO, what that means for us is that I will have to try and write and post as best I can on my iPad. I have a special key pad for it. BUT it's kinda a complicated thing to do on my iPad and I've never done it before. **

**It's frustrating cuz, like many of us, my computer is the only thing I use. EVER. I watch movies and TV on it and write and when it's down, even tough I have computer access and netflix access on my iPad, it's still horriable! **

**So, if I can't update soon, this is why. **

**I hope they can fix it and I don't lose any data. I have almost two years worth of writing on my computer. I'm just glad I uploaded this chapter before the thing happened.**


	23. Chapter 23

_~ Part V ~  
~ The Heart of the Beast ~_

_~ Fall 1915 ~_

1.  
~ Eames tried to keep warm as the cold rain fell on him. It was another exhaustive day in the trenches. A day that reminded him how slight, the grip on life could be. How easily it could slip through your fingers. He had no idea that the war would be like this.  
As a boy, he dreamed of battlefields and hand to hand combat. Vanquishing an enemy who was in the wrong, and he would be in the right.  
The reality was a world of cold rain, mud, hunger, infection and death. All this, and what ever gas the enemy could throw at them.  
It was the gas that scared him the most. Great yellow clouds of mustered gas would encroach on them without prejudice or regret. It knew no borders, and attacked as silently as the wind that brought it to it's prey. In it's wake, it left men blind, burned and unfit for combat.  
There weren't enough gas masks to go around and sometimes the masks would leak and trap the insidious gas close to the eyes anyway. Making the attack much worse.  
Then, there was the issues of living in trenches. There was not even the dignity of proper hygiene here. The rat like tunnels reeked of human waste and other foulness.  
All this might have been livable if the dead could have been evacuated, if there was a dry place to sleep and the bombs weren't always dropping on them. In the past year, Eames had lost track of how many had died.  
At first, it was a great shock to him. Youth snuffed out so quickly, he could scarcely believe the thing had happened.  
Young men, healthy men, couldn't just die. It was a thing that was not allowed. They were blown to pieces, their bodies left in the mud to rot. The gas crept in like a spider, and strangled the life out of those the bullets and grandees didn't kill. It was an unfair waste of life.  
~ Eames let out a sigh and wished for the hundredth time he was home. Blue Rivers, with its safety, dry beds and beautiful lands called to him. Even in his sleep, dreams would come to him of the grand house, the conservatory, Ariadne... always, there was Ariadne to torment him.  
He sat on a metal amo box and watched his fellow fighting men argue over the last tin of food. He hadn't eaten in two days, but he had stopped caring about that a long time ago. He longed for death now.  
His first month in the trenches, he had been shot in the neck. The bullet passing dangerously close to an artery and the surgeon simply stitched him up. In camp, he had contracted some kind of sickness that he shook off after a few days of rest. The doctors called it Spanish Flu and he was soon enough back in the war.  
He had food poisoning, jungle rot an some kind of eye infection. Nothing ever serious enough to kill him.  
Ariadne had told him to go to war and die there, he was failing at it.  
He watched the men fighting over the ration of food and wishing for a way out, when he pulled out his water proof envelope.  
In it, were all the pictures he and Phillipa had taken together.  
He had shown her how to develop them. They were his only link to Blue Rivers. His only proof that that life was real and waiting for him.  
Not all of it, however. Somethings, would never come back to him.  
Ariadne didn't love him. She had married Fredrick and gone to London to be with him. He hadn't bothered to go to the wedding. Hadn't bothered to see her after what had transpired that night. After their last night in the conservatory, he couldn't face her.  
He had become a beast that night. He couldn't be counted as apart of the human race any longer. He had hurt the only woman he had ever loved, and he deserved to waste away and die in this hell.  
What if she hadn't have fought back so well? What if, in his drunken rage, he had struck her or raped her? What if he had hurt her? He could never live with that.  
So, that was why Eames found himself volunteering for reckless missions to string barbed wire across the lines. To act as a lookout, to string telephone lines in the mud, to ride across the gas ridden fields to allied command.  
He deserved this hell.  
With careful hands, he looked over the pictures of home. Phillipa had done an excellent job of capturing the conservatory. He wanted to step into the picture and be home right now.  
He came to the candid group picture of Ariadne, Olivia, Lady Percy, Mal and Cobb at their breakfast table. It was a happy memory. Ariadne looked smaller than normal compared to everyone else.  
Her eyes looked large and defiant.  
"Like a doe, who has never seen a winter." Eames muttered.  
He laughed at himself and ran his hands over her face.  
He hoped she could forgive him one day. Forgive a man who loved her. Forgive a man who loved her so much his soul was in hell so that he might die and be absolved.

~ Ariadne was glad to escape London. With the war, Fredrick's departure just two days after their wedding, it was very lonely with only the young children and Maura for company.  
No one was more shocked than she was to find herself back at Blue Rivers a month after Fredrick and Eames left for the fighting. It hadn't been a hard decision to make at all. Lady Percy had asked her to come back. The great house had become a sort of boarding home for the war workers that had come in. The village, thanks to Arthur's phone hub foresight, had become instrumental in the allied fight. Everyday there was radio transmissions and things to be decoded, transcribed and sent out.  
Blue Rivers, drafted to do it's part, gave shelter to the women who worked in the telegraph office. Ariadne among them.  
She had volunteered to join in this tedious, mind numbing work. Everyone was busy with some kind of war related task. Even Lady percy and Juniper found their jobs of running Blue Rivers much more then they bargained for, now that it was a boarding house.  
Ariadne came home to her sad, broken little family each day, and the family ate dinner in the conservatory. The dinning room, reserved for the phone hub employees.  
The staff, once at the beck and call of the family, now in the service of fifty girls from the country.  
"I could never see what was so wonderful about this conservatory." Juniper sighed as they ate their simple meal.  
Rationing had come into their lives and there was no more sugar, not even honey for tea.  
"It's so drafty in here." she added.  
Ariadne said nothing. She was getting to the point where she was forgetting how to talk. Her work at the phone hub didn't require her to speak, when she was at home, Olivia babbled enough for the both of them.  
Harold was a quite boy who knew he was a guest in the grand home. He seemed a little intimidated by the house and the relatives he didn't know. He clung to Ariadne when she was available, and when she wasn't, tried to play with James and Phillipa as best he could.  
He told his new step mother every night that he wanted to go home. He wanted daddy back.  
"When the war is over, darling." Ariadne would whisper to him. "When the war is over, daddy will come home and everything will be better."  
It had been a lie. Harold was too young to understand that Fredrick might never come home. He went missing the first month of the war and was suspected to be dead. the army wasn't anxious to declare him lost yet, and Ariadne could get no more information.  
She knew, however, she was a widow again. Married and widowed twice in three years.  
It would have been laughable if it wasn't so insulting.  
On her wedding night in London, after the lovely ceremony and reception, her handsome new husband carried her to their new bedroom, he shyly told her he would be sleeping in the guest room.  
"Because of the war, dearest." he said as she stared back at him in shock. "I can't have you fall pregnant. If I were to die, where would you be? No, it's best to wait until I'm safely at home and we are free of the burden of war."  
It was a tragic joke Fredrick married her and refused to enjoy her. Another slap in the face by that cruel tauntress of love. He only wanted her as a full time caregiver to his son. He knew Ariadne had a soft spot for all children and would never place the boy in an orphanage. It wasn't Harold's fault his father had used her.  
She refused to blame anyone but herself.  
"Have we had any letters?" Aunt Percy asked.  
Ariadne let out a sigh. Everyday at dinner, the same question. The family's way of asking for news of Eames or Fredrick.  
"None." Airande said stiffly.  
"You would tell us if there was. Good or bad, we need to know." Lady Percy said.  
"Of course she would tell us. She and Charles were always close. Why, the first few months of the war, Charles wrote strictly to her." Juniper scolded.  
Ariadne didn't respond. Her voice failing her again.  
Eames had written to her at least once a week. Each letter expressing his guilt and remorse over what had happened between them that night. She had burned each one. Her anger at him still sharp and painful.  
Mostly, she was still mad at herself. She had told him to go to war and die. They hadn't heard from Eames in over six months. With the growing lists of the dead, she feared that dying, was precisely what he had done.


	24. Chapter 24

2.  
~ Ariadne was never bored when watching Olivia.  
The child would be three in spring and was unlike any toddler anyone had ever seen.  
She was quite and seemed to get along with only herself. Harold, reject by his step sister on numerous times, was forced to play by himself as best he could. The house was full of children, but the age gaps were too great for them. Phillipa had lost all interest in playing James. Instead, she took to reading a lot and talking about going away to school next year.  
James, a few years younger than Phillipa haunted the servants hall. His mother now lived at the house, and he was starting to learn his place. He wasn't a family member as Arthur treated him. He was the son of a fallen woman who was a maid.  
The divide becoming more clear as he started to understand he and Phillipa were different.  
Harold's only delight came when Ariadne was home. He would curl in her lap and she would read to him from the Peter Rabbit books. He was interested in learning his ABC's but, most of all, he asked when his father would come home.  
Olivia spoke only to herself. She had no cares for the others in the house other than what she needed from her mother.  
She was intent on walking and demanding things for herself. She didn't seem to want or need affection the way Harold did.  
Ariadne would wonder how it was that Arthur, who had none of his blood in Olivia, could have a walking talking version of himself in the child.  
~ Another day in the hell Eames had relegated himself to.  
It was night fall, his battalion had been lost and he was trying to wander through the quick sand of mud. In the distance he could hear gun fire. The indistinct fire of old rifles that the new recruits were reduced to use. He kept walking. He almost never ran these days, except into battle.  
His commander had ordered a strike. The boys were all shaking in their boots as he gave a very stirring speech. Eames knew they would all die. He had been right. He had watched some poor boy run into some barbed wire and died From fear alone. Others were cut open my machine gun fire.  
Their bodies looking little better than hamburger meat as the mud disguised the red of their blood.  
Eames took out his last cigarette as he trudged back to base.  
"Captain?" came a frightened voice.  
Eames stopped and looked towards the voice.  
The silent woods, mist and the faint smell of gasoline were all he perceived.  
"Who's there?" Eames growled.  
"Sir?" came the voice of one of his own country men.  
"Come out." Eames snarled.  
He heard something shift in the darkness and a youth climbed out of the bushes. He was covered head to toe in mud. His eyes wide with fright.  
"Why were you hiding there, Private?" he snarled at the young man.  
"The shelling, sir." he whimpered. "I can't take it anymore."  
"So you hid?" Eames asked as he lit his cigarette.  
He didn't scold the young man. Didn't accuse. He understood why the boy was afraid of death.  
"Sir, I'm scared. I just want to go home." the young man said.  
"There is no home." Eames bit back.  
The youth looked back at him. Not understanding. Eames took a long drag and looked up at the stars.  
He wasn't sure why, but the stars were so bright lately.  
"Hell is empty, and the devils are here." he said at last. Remembering a line from the Tempest he thought too morbid as a younger man.  
He looked at the youth.  
"Do you believe that?" he asked as they started walking again.  
"Sir?" the young man asked again.  
"Do you think the demons of hell have escaped and come for us? Or, do you think all of us have willing marched into hell?" Eames asked.  
"I just want to go home, sir. I can't take it anymore. The shelling, the trenches, I've lost all my friends." the young man whined.  
Eames said nothing as they walked. The young man looking nervously about.  
"Sir, aren't you worried we'll be attacked?" the youth asked.  
"So what if we are? I've been attacked before." Eames barked. "I can't seem to die. I've been trying, but I can't seem to do it."  
"Sir?" the youth asked.  
"I may be dead already." Eames laughed. "I may have died that night."  
"What night?"  
"I've been looking for death on _her_ orders, on hers and no one else's. I don't care anymore. If I die, I think she'll forgive me. That if I can find my way to heaven, I'll be with her and be happy." Eames said.  
The youth was about to say something when Eames caught sight of something in the mist.  
A figure, a woman in a forest green evening dress.  
The dress was achingly familiar.  
The figure was painful to see.  
His heart leapt out and started beating again.  
"Ariadne?" he whispered.  
"Sir?"  
Eames was gasping for air as he watched the figure in the mist turn and walk away.  
The tick fog swallowing her whole  
"Ariadne!" Eames shouted and ran towards her.  
Eames never ran except into battle. Most days his walk wasn't exactly careful. But he stuck to paths that had been well worn by others. He never gave a thought to the mines that peppered the area this way.  
But seeing her ghost, to know his love was in hell with him and all these devils, was too much to bare.  
He was less than 50 yards away from the young man when he stepped on a mine, and it went off.  
The force of the blast knocked the breath out of him and he could feel his hot blood escape his body.  
He was on his back, his body broken and cold in the mud. The stars his only company, when Ariadne came back for him.  
She was wearing the same forest green dress the first night he saw her. Her face young, her lips red from the slight hint of Olivia growing inside her.  
"Ariadne." he panted as she leaned over him.  
Her beautiful face inches from his.  
"Watch... watch out for the mud... on your dress." he panted.  
His leg hurt. He pushed aside the pain and tried to focus on her face.  
"I'm ready." he whispered as she hovered over him. "Please, I'm ready."  
She said nothing as her face turned white as a china dolls. Her skin starting to crack and her color fading.  
"Ariadne?" he gasped in horror.  
She said nothing as he face cracked even more and her hair fell out. Her body shriveling up before his eyes.  
"Ariadne!" he screamed as she decayed and fell away beside him. "Please! I'm sorry! Please, take me home!  
~ "Olivia." Ariadne called to her daughter as Harold played with one of the Peter Rabbit books.  
The toddler looked to her mother, saw she wasn't very interesting and turned away.  
"Olivia, it's almost bed time." she said at last.  
Olivia scowled at her mother and looked too haughty to waste time with going to bed.  
"No arguments." Ariadne said and took her daughter's hand.  
the child only whined a little as her mother bathed her and dressed her for bed.  
Since they returned to Blue Rivers, and with space no limited in the house, Olivia slept in the same bed as Ariadne. It was an arrangement that gave her mother comfort.  
These days, even when she was surrounded by people, she always felt alone.  
Olivia let herself be tucked in and Ariadne took the framed picture of Arthur off the night stand.  
"Kiss daddy goodnight." she instructed.  
Olivia, content with the belief Arthur could feel her love for him through the picture, gladly kissed the image of a man she would never know and smiled at her mother.  
"Kiss mommy good night." Ariadne said and the little girl gave her first real giggle of the day and kissed her mother.  
Harold would go to bed at 8 and there was still an hour before he had to be pulled away from his solitary play.  
"When do you think my daddy will be home?" the little boy asked.  
"I don't know, Harold." Ariadne said sadly.  
"If he doesn't come home, will we have to live here?" he asked.  
"No, we can live wherever we want." Ariadne told him.  
"I don't want to live here." he told her.  
"Why not?" Ariadne asked.  
"There are no kids to play with and the old ladies here are mean and they smell funny."  
Ariadne let out a laugh. She couldn't help it.  
She couldn't be angry at Harold for Fredrick and how he lied to her. Harold was too sweet and too in need of affection.  
"I agree, but don't tell them that." she said.  
It felt good to laugh. Her body felt oddly lighter afterwards. Like she had taken some kind of medicine and was cured of some sickness.  
She heard a rapid, harassed knocking on the door and Maura let herself in.  
"Missus, oh missus!" the maid cried.  
"What is it?" Ariadne said standing up.  
"A telegram has come. Only... only Lady Juniper took it. It was addressed to you and I tried to take it to you. She pulled it out of my hand and she took it." the maid exclaimed.  
"What?" Ariadne shouted and raced past the maid.  
The slacks she wore all the time now made it easier to travers the great house, and she reached the grand hallway quickly.  
Juniper and Lady Percy were standing there. Their eyes peering over the telegram.  
"Is that for me?" Ariadne snapped at the two old women. "Maura said it was addressed to me."  
Juniper looked up at Ariadne. Her face grey and shallow.  
"I thought..." she whispered and looked ready to cry. "I thought it would be news from Charles. He wrote only to you this whole time." Juniper said.  
Ariadne snatched her telegram from her hand and Eames' mother looked ready to cry.  
Ariadne looked over he telegram from the war department.  
In big bold type, were the sentences.

**Mrs. Fredrick Hays  
Blue Rivers Manor  
Mrs. Hays,  
Your husband, Fredrick Hays has been found alive.  
He is being treated at a field hospital where he will be honorably discharged.**

"Fredrick's alive." Ariadne whispered.  
She looked at juniper and Lady Percy. Both women looking ready to cry from heartbreak.  
"He's coming home." she told them.


	25. Chapter 25

3.  
~ Ariadne was waiting for a train. The trains were always running late these days and it had started to rain.  
"Here, Madam. Why don't you wait in the car? Mr. Hays wouldn't want you to catch cold." Miles said as he held an umbrella over her head.  
"Thank you, Miles. I think I'll live." she whispered as she saw in the distance a white puff coming from a steam engine.  
The others at the station, mostly women waiting on the wounded men to get there, stood as well. Everyone anxious to see their sons and sweethearts again.  
What would she say to Fredrick after almost a year? They had parted on such business like terms.  
Te war department hadn't told her how wounded he was. Could he even walk? Where would they go from here? If he wasn't wounded badly, would they go back to London? Would they live as husband and wife? Or would she still be the live in governess?  
The train arrived, and with it, men who wouldn't let the women in the cars to see their loved ones.  
Instead, ever sensible, they were made to cue up and give names.  
What spilled out of that train car was like hell had opened up.  
Ariadne waited in line as the passenger cars were opened and the men helped off.  
The smell hit her first. The smell of something gone sour and rotten. The stench of something that had become infected and all the ladies put their hands to their noses.  
The men who could still walk carefully stepped off the cars and peered around the train station. Faces badly burned and some were even blind.  
"The gas, madam." Miles whispered to her.  
She had to watch as the stewards delivered less able bodied men to their women in the wheelchairs. One had no legs and his face was horribly burned.  
"Tom?" cried a young girl as her husband was almost catatonic. "Tom, it's Jane! Tom, can you hear me?"  
Finally, Ariadne arrived at her turn.  
"Mrs. Fredrick Hays." she said to the man with the clip board.  
"Captain Hays will need a wheelchair. He's not well, ma'am." the man said.  
"Just get him here, I have two footmen who can take him home waiting by the car." Ariadne said curtly as Miles went to retrieve the two teenage boys who had replaced their normal footmen. Two brothers who they learned were killed just a few weeks ago.  
Ariadne thought she would be ready to see Fredrick come off the train. He might need a cane perhaps, but she expected him to look the same as when he left.  
She was not expecting the broken thing they put in the wheelchair instead.  
Fredrick's body was swollen and bloated. His legs hung uselessly to the side. As if they hadn't been any use to him in months.  
"What happened to him?" Ariadne whispered as she looked at his burned face and his eyes milky and glazed over.  
"Gas, ma'am." the man with the clip board whispered. "It blinded him, and the doctors said it caused some kidney failure."  
Ariadne looked at puffy face of the once handsome man. His whole body was bloated and his hands were so full of fluid, they had turned red.  
"He's not much longer for this world, I'm sorry." the man whispered.  
~ It took the slow and careful efforts of the two young men, Miles and Ariadne to help Fredrick into the car.  
"Harold?" Fredrick whimpered as Ariadne tried to sooth him on the drive back home.  
"He's fine, Fredrick." she told him as every jostle along the dirt road seemed to hurt him.  
She went to brush back his hair and Fredrick leaned closer to her.  
"Don't let him see me like this. Please, Ariadne, don't let my boy see me like this." he said.  
~ It was quickly decided that Fredrick would be regulated to the servant's basement. The stairs were impossible and he could be looked after better this way.  
The cook brought out a gurney like low table that was used for bringing large orders of groceries in, and Fredrick was pushed down to the housekeepers sitting room.  
Maggie and the other house maids quickly put a bed in the little room and Ariadne went to get Lady Percy.  
"We have to drain some of this fluid, Missus." Maggie said as she looked over Fredrick's broken body.  
Lady Percy agreed.  
"The surgeon is too busy just now to be bothered with it. My father was afflicted with this kind of swelling." the older woman said. "Maggie, I shall rely on you to help. Get a knife from the kitchen and some matches as well. Get your sewing kit, clean bandages and some of that good strong liquor we saved in he back store room."  
"A bucket, madam?" Maggie asked worriedly.  
"Yes, the largest one you have." Lady Percy agreed.  
Ariadne had no idea what they were about to do as they prepared for some kind of field surgery. She did as she was told and prepared clean towels around his body.  
Fredrick had pockets of fluid around his body, but the worst was in his lags and and his arms.  
"Lady Percy, what are you doing?" Ariadne whispered as she watched the older woman run a match over a clean kitchen knife and then start to cut open Fredrick's leg.  
She expected her husband to cry out, but the large cut didn't seem to bother him at all.  
Instead, it was Ariadne who almost wretched at the sight of what flowed out of his swollen leg.  
"We leave the fluid in his legs, it will become infected and he'll die." Lady Percy said. "It's also painful to be this swollen." she added as they watched the pink watery substance flow into the bucket like an open sink.  
Maggie held the leg and allowed the wound to drain in the bucket like what was happening was completely normal.  
Already, Fredrick's leg was shrinking and the drain was slowing.  
"Try and get all of it. That's it." Lady Percy said as the two women gently pressed around the leg and forced more pink water out.  
"Maggie, make sure Captain Hays had plenty of water to drink. He'll be needing to rehydrate." Lady Percy instructed.  
"Won't that just make him puffy again?" Ariadne whispered.  
"He's going to get the fluid right back, but we can't let all of it build in his body like this. It will stop the heart." Lady Percy said as Maggie cleaned and dried the wound that had stopped flowing.  
"Wait a while before you stitch him up." Lady Percy said. "Now lets do the other one."  
It took hours to drain the legs and arms, and Maggie fearlessly wrapped up Fredrick's arms and legs till they looked like normal size body parts again.  
"There will be some seepage." Lady Percy instructed as Maggie dumped the bucket outside. "But he'll live a few more weeks unless infection sets in."  
"Maybe we should have just let him pass away." Ariadne whispered. "He's blind and can't do for himself."  
"He needs to say goodby to his son and his wife." Lady Percy said darkly. "he won't regret this time with Harold. When he's rested, the boy can see him. Let Maggie clean him up a little better and Harold can see that his father is a hero."  
Ariadne stood back and looked over the older woman. She was calm and collected. She never seemed to panic and knew precisely what to do. It had been the same when Olivia was born.  
"Lady Percy, I think you missed your calling. You shouldn't have been lady of a house but a surgeon!" she said.  
"Stop being so ridiculous." Lady Percy snapped. "Now tell cook to prepare Fredrick a stiff drink to help with the pain. Go on."  
~ Eames awoke to the sounds of cannon fire and shouting. He opened his eyes to see the grimy field hospital crowded with wounded.  
It smelled here. Smelled of decay and too many bodies.  
He wanted to sit up; get some fresh air when a horrible pain made him wince and lay back down.  
He looked at his right leg.  
'Please let it still be there.' he thought.  
He took a deep breath, and chanced a glance down.  
He leg was still there. Bandaged with a dirty looking wrap that needed to be changed.  
He let out a sigh as he felt his leg was hot and the skin too tight.  
'Infection. So that's how I'll go.' he thought as he tried again to sit up. 'My leg will rot off and I'll die of blood poisoning or something.'  
He let out a mirthless laugh and tried to stand.  
Still unsteady on his feet, he hobbled out of the infirmary and to get some fresh air.  
"Don't wander off too far, mate." an orderly called back. "Surgeon's going to take your leg next. Before the infection sets in."  
Eames pretended he didn't hear. He looked up at the sky and took out his side arm.  
The chamber of the gun was loaded and he pulled back the hammer, ready to fire.  
He looked back up at the clear blue sky again, and was thankful it was nearly over.

**so, i have not been getting a lot of feedback for this story and would love to hear if I'm writing a story you guys want to keep reading. I know my readers are hardcore A&A and A&E is not their fav, but let me know if anyone likes this story. **

**Leah**


	26. Chapter 26

4.  
~ Ariadne was enjoying the feel of fresh air. The make shift sick room for Fredrick was claustrophobic and she was getting to the point where she could no longer stand it.  
Fredrick cried and complained unceasingly and he was never content for even a moment as the whole house hold was busy with the girls from the phone hub, as well as him.  
As a result, Ariadne bore the burden of caring for the blind invalid herself. A task not made any easier since Fredrick couldn't seem to walk without being in constant pain.  
His wounds drained constantly and she had to change his bandages, wash them, and re-wrap them again.  
But there was no sign of infection yet, which pleased Lady Percy.  
The scarring to his face was another matter. No matter if it was gas, or fire that did it, Fredrick's good looks were gone forever. His blue eyes were lost as well, as the gas turned that charming feature into glazed over grayness.  
"Ariadne!" a sudden shout came from the housekeeper's sitting room.  
She jumped and was pulled out of her stolen quite time to the real world again.  
"What is it Fredrick?" she asked as she swiftly returned to his side.  
"My legs hurt." he cried petulantly.  
She let out a sigh.  
"We can't give you any more laudanum. You've had your dose for the day." she told him. Lady Percy had strongly suspected the gas had destroyed his ability to metabolize pain medicine and Fredrick suffered from the discomfort of swelling and other maladies.  
"God damn it, woman!" he cried. "Look at me! I'm in pain!"  
"Fredrick-" she tried to reason with him.  
"Get out!" he shouted. "Just leave if you hate me so much!"  
Ariadne didn't have to be told twice. Fredrick acted more like a spoiled child these days then the real children in her care.  
He had refused to allow his son, Harold, to come and see him. The child wasn't even told Fredrick was alive, let alone back at the house.  
Lady Percy had tried to convince him to see his son, but Fredrick didn't want his son's last memory to be of a father so wounded and broken.  
Ariadne made it to her conservatory, before she stated to cry.  
Why had she been such a fool to marry Fredrick? She was now burdened with a blind and crippled husband who would no doubt find a way to live forever. Always needing care and complaining about everything. She not only had Fredrick to care for, but his son as well.  
She should have just run off with Eames when he made the offer. They could have been happy. They always got along very well. Before things became so complicated.  
"Missus?" came a small voice.  
Ariadne looked up from her writing table. Very aware that she had been crying.  
Maura stood there trembling.  
"Missus? Are you alright?" she asked.  
"Fine, Maura. Mr. Hays is just having a bad day." Ariadne said and tried to show some composure.  
"Sorry to hear, Missus." Maura said.  
"What is it, Maura?" Ariadne asked.  
"Missus, there are some army men here to see you." the young maid said.  
"About what?" Ariadne asked.  
"They won't say. They tell me they will only talk to you." Maura told her.  
Ariadne wiped the tears off her face and tried to brush back her hair.  
"Show them in, Maura." she said a last.  
The maid nodded and Ariadne wished she looked more presentable as two older officers came into her conservatory.  
"Mrs. Ariadne Bradford?" one asked.  
"Well, it's Mrs. Hays now, but yes." Ariadne told them.  
"Were here about Captain Charles Ray Eames." he said.  
Ariadne felt her world fall away.  
'He's dead.' she thought. 'Prepare yourself for the worst. They are going to tell you that he's dead.'  
"I thought you would send a telegram to his mother with his death, sir." she said stiffly.  
The two officers looked at one another.  
"Madam, captain Eames is very much alive. He's quite the war hero to." he said.  
"I don't understand." Ariadne said. "Where is he? Why are you here?"  
"He was wounded a month ago." the younger of the officers said. "Stepped on a land mine and almost died. He was at the field hospital and they were about to take his leg when he tried to kill the orderly who was going to take him to be amputated. He almost shot the man dead. The surgeon was so impressed, he managed to save Captain Eames' leg. Said a man with that much fight in him shouldn't be crippled."  
"So, he's still in battle?" Ariadne asked.  
"No, ma'am. He's at the cottage hospital here in the village. His wounds were such that he couldn't return to active duty." the officer told her.  
"He's here?" Ariadne asked in disbelief. "Why didn't we know until now? His mother should have been informed. Why are you talking to me anyway? I'm not his wife."  
"Ma'am, he has Ariadne Bradford listed as his next of kin. No other family members." the officer told her.  
~ The cottage hospital was still small a cozy. Exactly as Ariadne remembered it from when Mrs. Abbot attacked her.  
The clean little beds were lined up against the wall with the curtained dividers segregating each bed ridden patient.  
She was taken to the end of the row by the two officers and couldn't help but be reminded of when she and Maggie went to retrieve him from Robert Fischer's hospital in White Chapel.  
Then, her friend looked thin, pale and sickly. Now, she wondered how he was still alive.  
She gasped at the shock of seeing him like this. Gone was his strong, well toned body. The person that lay in the bed at the end of the row was painfully thin. It was a wonder he was even sill alive. His eyes were sunken in and he looked like even breathing was painful.  
He had small burns that peppered his face an hands. The blankets covering his other wounds.  
"Eames?" she whispered as she knelt by his side.  
Her friend slowly opened his eyes and looked confusedly back at her.  
"They said I was going home." he said in a cracked and thirsty voice. "Is this Blue Rivers, or heaven?"  
"None of your charms just now, sir." Ariadne scolded as she got him some water to drink.  
His eyes never left her as he greedily drank all the water she gave him.  
"I've a car out front. We're going home." she told him as she helped him to sit up.  
"My isn't this familiar." Eames said with an impish little grin. "I don't want mother to know I'm home." he said suddenly.  
"Why not? And why did you have me listed as your next of kin?" she asked as she stripped off his hospital gown and put a clean shirt on him.  
"Because." he sighed. "I wanted you to be the first to know when I died." he admitted.  
She glared at him.  
"To punish me? For rejecting you and marring Fredrick?" she asked.  
"No." he whispered. "To punish myself."

**Thank you all for the awesome feedback. I'm not normally one who craves reviews, but I wanted to make sure I was writing the kind of story you wanted to read. **  
**I want you all to know you guys light up my whole life and I don't want to think about a world without my writing or my readers.**  
**On this story, I WILL have Arthur return to Blue Rivers. There WILL be A&E sexy time. (evil laughter).**  
**One question was posed that I wanted to answer, yes, I have thought about self publishing. A LOT in fact, But I need a GREAT beta reader and I have a very short attention span sometimes. When I'm done with a story, I'm done with it. I don't know why. **  
**I normally let the feedback from my readers dictate the direction the story will go. I also think my best work comes from fan requests, so shout them out. Even if you don't know what kind of story you want, I will try to make it work.**


	27. Chapter 27

_~ Part VI ~_

_~ The Wounded Heart ~_

1.

~ "Ow." Eames hissed as the car jerked over a bump in the road.

"Sorry." Ariadne whispered as she tried to drive more carefully.

Eames let out a pent up breath as pain visibly shook him.

"Didn't the give you anything for the discomfort?" she asked him.

He shook his head.

"I didn't want anything." he explained. "The medicine they give you, they always gave me funny dreams. I never knew what was real and what wasn't. There was no way to tell if I was dreaming of awake sometimes."

"Eames, you have no fat on your body, that's why it hurts so much." she told him as she slowed the car to avoid another bump in the road. "Didn't they feed you in that army?" she asked.

Eames let out a groan as he tried to sit more comfortably.

She had helped him dress for the trip home and couldn't shake the image of his rib cage showing. His whole skeletal frame on display as his once strong, fatted body was now disgusting and sickly. Not even when she had rescued him from Fischer's charity hospital, had he looked so near death.

"We're almost home." she told him. He nodded and tried to give her a smile that didn't reach his eyes.

"Don't let mother know I'm back." he groaned.

"Why not?" Ariadne asked. "She's your mother, she needs to know."

He gave her an annoyed look.

"If mother knows I'm back, she's going to get upset at the state of me, and I can't face it just now." he told her. "You've always been the only one I trust, Ariadne."

She shook her head.

"You may as well know, Fredrick is back." she said sadly.

She shifted in the driver's set as she could feel her friend's eyes on her.

"You don't sound all that happy to have you husband back in you loving arms, Mrs. Hays." Eames observed.

"He was wounded." she snapped. "The gas... it left him blind and he's in a lot of pain."

Eames was very quite.

"I'm sorry." he said. "I know you cared for him."

She let out a laugh.

"I hardly know what I care for these days, Eames." she admitted. "Sine you left, it's like I'm not even here. It's like I'm a ghost; just haunting the halls."

"Be sure to write that down. We can turn it into a story." he offered.

"Don't kid." she whispered.

"You look well." he offered as an apology.

"Do I?" she asked in surprise.

She didn't feel like herself. She felt like an imposter floating around Blue Rivers.

Eames gave her an indifferent shrug.

"I've always been a little biased about you, however. Can't trust my opinion." he added.

She tried not to smile. The ability to smile had been forgotten for the past year in a world of responsibility, rejection, heart ache and trauma. Her face felt strange at being forced to smile again.

"So, you want me to hide you until you're better and then let Juniper know you're back?" she asked as she accidentally hit a bump in the road and Eames hissed in pain.

"Yes, if we can ever survive the trip." he told her.

~ Sneaking Eames into the house was not as easy as she thought it would be. Miles had the ability to be everywhere at once and the always annoying habit of popping up unexpectedly.

"Did you have a nice drive, madam?" he asked as she tried to sneak down one of the less used halls. Eames hiding in her wake.

"Very nice. I won't be needing anything, thank you." she said curtly as Eames ducked down the hallway just out of the butler's sight.

As soon as Miles was gone, he came out and huddled beside her like a pair of guilty teenagers.

"Think he knew I was here?" Eames hissed. A touch of humor in his voice.

Ariadne rolled her eyes.

"I should have told him you were hiding there and let Juniper hold a parade for you. I still might." she threatened.

"You wouldn't." Eames teased.

"I would."

"You wouldn't."

"_I would_."

"Just take me to our conservatory. I can hide there. No one can go in there except you and I." he said.

"No, the house is boarding the girls who work in the phone hub for the war effort. They use the dinning room to eat and the family uses the conservatory to eat.

"Well, where then?" Eames demanded. "The servants are all over the house and with more people, I won't be easy to hide."

"We can keep you in my rooms. Only Maura is allowed there." she told him.

"Why Mrs. Hays, I never would have guessed you would hide a scoundrel like me in your bedroom." he said; scandalized.

She looked at him as if for the first time. Past the emaciated, broken body, the burns to the face and the sever limp that made him use a cane, his eyes still held the same mischief they had since the day she met him.

"Good to see the war hasn't changed _everything _about you." she whispered.

~ Eames had a great deal of difficulty climbing up the stairs. Ariadne was glad that the girls were at work, Lady Percy and Juniper were in the parlor and the children were playing in the nursery. No one was around to see the wounded, skeletal man climbing up the grand staircase to the upstairs rooms.

He was breathing hard as she shushed him to be quite.

"My head hurts." he hissed back.

"Well, you're head will really be hurting if Juniper finds you." she scolded as she helped him to his feet again.

Her friend wincing in pain from his knees hurting.

~ Eames was finally stashed away in her rooms and wanted a bath before eating.

"I hate that hospital smell, I want it off me." he explained as Ariadne ran a bath for him and helped take off the clothes that were too big for him now that he lost so much weight.

"I don't blame you." she said in her normal voice. Happy they didn't have to whisper anymore.

She felt his eyes on her as she pulled off his shirt and shoes.

"I can manage the rest on my own." he offered as he sat a bit on the edge of the bathtub. His breathing coming hard from walking and climbing the stairs.

"And have you faint on me? Never." she told him. "Besides, I've helped you bathe before."

He raised his eye brows in surprise.  
"Yes, you did." he told her.

He suddenly took hold of her hand. Her doe like eyes met his and for the first time in a year, they were truly alone in the world.  
"Ariadne, I'm sorry. For what happened that night. What... what almost happened." he said.

"You were drinking. Charlotte had left you. You were mad at me. You've nothing to be sorry for." she said and tried to avoid his eyes.

"Look at me." he demanded and she was forced to meet his eyes again.

Eames took a deep breath.  
"There is everything to be sorry for. If you hadn't kicked me... so... _well_, something terrible could have happened to you. I couldn't have lived with that." he tried to explain.  
"Is that why you kept trying to die in the war?" she asked.

He finally broke eye contact.

"The officers, the ones who came to get me. They said you ran the suicide missions. You always volunteered to go." she said as the water in the tub was almost full and she turned off the faucet.

Eames was quite.  
"Were you trying to kill yourself?" she asked. "Because I told you to?"

"I won't deny I wanted to carry out your orders, darling." Eames said.

He meant it to be a joke, she was sure, but his smile didn't reach his eyes again.

"I'm just glad you're home now." Ariadne whispered as she helped him stand to remove the last of his clothing.

** Got my computer back. The techs scrubbed it clean including all my settings, so I was busy today putting it all back, BOO!**

** I'm doing well at my job. I feel like it's really going to work out for me there. Its a nice place to work and my boss is good guy and my dad told me he's proud of me, which ROCKS! **

** The people at my bank are assholes, who shut down my account and told me to take my money elsewhere. **

** Still, life is good. **


	28. Chapter 28

2.

~ "You've gotten better at driving." Eames said as he enjoyed a relaxing soak in her bath tub.

Ariadne gave him another rare, but welcomed smile.  
"I've been driving a lot lately. No one around to tell me not to." she told him as she washed his hair.

"How's Olivia? Is she talking yet?" he asked.  
"Oh yes. She talks. She tells me 'no' all the time and she's really into her 'mine' phase. She won't let Harold play with her at all. It's so strange how much she's like Arthur." she admitted as she scrubbed his back.

"I'm sure Arthur would have loved that." Eames said sadly.

Ariadne did not want to think about Arthur just now.  
"They told me you stepped on a land mine?" she asked instead.  
"Yeah." he laughed as she rinsed the soap from his head. Careful not to get any in his eyes. "I'm normally very good about missing them, but I was acting stupid."

"What were you doing?" she asked him.

"I'm not going to tell you about that. It's a long story and I come off badly in it." Eames said casually.  
"What, worse then getting blown up?" she teased and wrapped her arms around his shoulders suddenly.

She could sense his hands come up out of the bath water to hug her back.  
"I'm really glad you're home." she whispered. "I hated being mad at you and I don't want to fight with you ever again."

"We won't." he promised effortlessly. "At least not like that."

She pulled away from him and felt a small seed of happiness start to grow in her heart.  
"We can think of new things to fight about." he told her.  
"Who says we have to fight at all?" she asked with a laugh.

"All couples need to fight, so long as it's about nothing serious." he told her.  
"We're not a couple." she told him as she went to get him a clean towel.  
"Oh, so we're going to do this again?" he asked sarcastically.

"We're not doing anything, Eames." she told him as she realized she was in her bathroom with a naked man who wasn't her husband.

"Fredrick-" she started to say.  
"Is on his deathbed, you said so yourself." Eames interrupted.

She stepped away from him as they dueled with their eyes again. That same old argument rising up between them.

"I don't want to fight about this." Ariadne whispered.  
"Fine." Eames said and suddenly stood out of the bath water, unashamed at his nakedness in front of her.

Quickly, enough he lost his balance on his still wounded leg and she had to rush to keep him from falling.

"Careful!" she snapped as he clung to her to keep himself steady.

Eames almost fell again as she had to help him out of the bath tub to dry off.

"I'm sorry you have to take care of me like this." he said bitterly.

"You're not as bad as some. Fredrick has to have his wounds drained. It's nothing compared to the fact that he's blind and the pain medicine isn't effective because of the gas." she whispered as she helped him to sit down on her bed.

"I'm sorry, Ariadne." he sighed.  
"He doesn't want Harold to see him." she said as she dried his wet hair. "Doesn't want the child to remember his father like that."

"I don't blame him." Eames said. "It's nice that you've taken care of the boy like you have."

"It's my job, it's why he married me." Ariadne said without thinking.

Eames didn't respond. Only let her dry his thin body off.

"Don't bother with any night clothes, I always sleep naked." he told her.  
"Nice try." she said as, even in his exhausted state, he was the same old Eames. "You can sleep in the dressing room. We have a little bed in there, and I'll get you a night gown and something to eat." she said and left the room.

~ As always, as soon as she was among the family, they were pulling her in five directions at once.

"Ariadne, I was hoping you could drive to the village later this week with me." Juniper said.

"Missus, Olivia has a bit of an ear ache. Don't worry none, only she's not the most agreeable child just now." Maura told her as the cranky infant didn't want to be held, only wanted to cry and pout.  
"Ariadne, I must insist that new arrangements be made for these girls. The war will be done in a few months and this is a private home!" Lady Percy said.

"We can go to the village next week. Maura, would you mind looking after Olivia and Harold tonight? I'm not feeling well myself. Aunt Percy, the war will end when it ends and Blue Rivers must do it's part. It's what Eames would have wanted and we get a stipend from the government to pay for their room and board." Ariadne called back as she raced to the kitchen.

~ It was nothing new for the cook and the kitchen maid to prepare her a take away basket of food. Often times, this was how she and Eames would eat in the conservatory when they wanted to be left alone. It raise no suspicious at all when Ariadne announced she wanted a basket of food ready for herself. That she wasn't feeling well and planed to rest for the day.

~ Back in her rooms once more, with her excuses for an extended absence made and many hours free from interruption settled, she was at liberty to see her friend.

Eames was snoring in her bed. He hadn't bothered to wait on the night shirt she brought him, or for food. His low snore coming from the bedding as he was curled, naked, in her bed. Ignoring, as usual, her instructions to sleep on the little bed in the dressing room.

"Eames?" she whispered as she wondered if she should wake him. He was so thin, his ribs showing and all she could think about was feeding him.

But another loud snore came from her friend and she realized he wasn't about to wake up anytime soon.

She decided to go to bed herself. It was early, but the day had exhausted her.

The responsibilities she had for children, old women and Fredrick were too much to bare at times and for a moment, she feared the door would burst open with some problem.

But Lady Percy and Maggie were looking after Fredrick. Maura was more a nanny than a ladies maid, and she was at liberty.

She changed out of her useful slacks and put on her night dress.

It was early, but she could sleep, even if Eames was in the bed with her. It was nothing, she had slept in the same bad as him before.

She turned down all the lights and climbed into the bed next to him. Her friend's snoring peaceful and hypnotic.

She felt a giddy wave of happiness wash over her at having Eames back in her life again. She had felt like a shell of her former self after he left. Like a ghost who was haunting Blue Rivers with no direction, nothing to keep her from floating away.

She wanted him awake suddenly; wanted to talk to him about the war, about what they would do now that they had they had their lives back.

"Eames?" she whispered. "Are you awake?"

His eyes fluttered briefly as she ran a hand over his face.

Suddenly, his eyes snapped open and he grabbed her wrist, bending it backwards till she cried out in pain.

He was on her so quickly, she didn't have time to cry out. His hand on her throat as he started to choke her.


	29. Chapter 29

3.

~ "Eames!" she gasped as his fragile body was suddenly strong, quick and powerful. His hands choking her as she tried to push him off.

"Think you can attack me while I'm sleeping, _coward_!" he roared at her as she cried out and tried to fight him off.

She wanted to cough, wanted to breath, her body being robbed of air as he pressed down on her hips to keep her under him.

"Eames!" she gasped. "Eames, it's _me_!" she coughed as she tried to scratch his bare arms.

It was like he was seeing her for the first time. His eyes became softer and he looked frightened.

"Ariadne?" he whispered in the darkness of their room.

His hands loosened around her neck and she rolled away from him. Still coughing as she welcomed the air back in her lungs. Tears streaming down her face from the shock of the attack.

"Are you real?" he whispered as she moved away from him. His hands, reaching for her; wanting to touch her; make sure she wasn't a dream.

She slapped his hands away.

"Of course I'm _real_!" she spat at him as she moved away again.

"Ariadne, what happened? How did I get here? Tell me what happened!" he asked in a scared voice she wasn't used to hearing from him.  
"Eames, I drove you home from the hospital. You're at Blue Rivers, don't you remember?" she asked.

Could he really have forgotten all of this? What was wrong with him?

He looked so confused right now, she wondered where he thought he was.  
"No." he whispered and covered his naked body up with the blankets. "I was... it was raining and... the men were fighting... the gas." he whispered more to himself then to her.  
He looked up at her suddenly.  
"I didn't hurt you did I?" he asked.  
"No." she lied.

"I don't ever want to hurt you." he breathed.  
"You didn't." she said as she rubbed her throat. Her heart forgiving him for the attack even if her mind was leery of being close to him now.  
"The war, I sometimes have bad thoughts." he told her.

"I understand. Let's just try and get some sleep, alright?" she told him.

Eames was trying to touch her again. Trying to run a hand through her hair.

She put a hand up to stop him, only to have his fingers lace with hers as they lay back down.

She could feel his eyes on her as she tried to refocus her energy on sleeping.

"I missed you." he whispered as his breath tickled her ear. "I've missed you so much. There's so much that I regret."

"We don't have to talk about that." Ariadne whispered to him. "You're home now. That's all that matters."  
"Am I? Am I really home?" he asked.  
"Of course you are."

"Because I feel like I might wake up and this will have just been a dream." she said.

"It's not a dream, can't you feel how real this is?" she asked as his hands ran over her arm.

She was afraid to admit she liked the way his fingers tickled her skin.

"Dreams feel real when we're in them. It's only when we're awake, we realized something was strange." he told her.

"Well, this day couldn't get any stranger." she said and tried not to laugh as he was soon snoring again.

~ "I don't like crowds now. The rain makes me nervous and I can't see very well at night." Eames explained early the next morning as they raided the basket of food.

Dawn had yet to break open the sky and they had both woken up hungry.

Like lazy, spoiled children, they ate in bed. Eames eating slowly of the sandwiches and fruit cook put in for them.

"Were you... I mean, I heard about the trenches." Ariadne told him.

"Yes, I was in the trenches." he admitted. "I don't recommend them."

"Tell me about them." she asked.  
"Nothing a lady needs to hear about. It was a foul, miserable business and I don't want to relive it." he said.  
He ate some cheese with crackers and she was glad to see his appetite had come back.  
"I think war is very obscene." he concluded.  
"Obscene? You're the proper person to lecture the world on obscenity when you refuse to put on a night shirt?" she giggled as Eames was still naked and did little to cover his nudity.

"I'm just as nature made me, Ariadne." he said in a good humor as she fought a smile. "A little banged up, that's true, but I'll be back in fighting form in no time."

Her face fell. Remembering what happened last night.

"I didn't mean like that." he said. Sensing he had said the wrong thing.

"I know." she said and ate her own sandwich.

"I would never hurt you." he insisted. "I just... I have nightmares, and they feel very real."

"I understand." she whispered.

"No you don't." he said sharply. A glint in his eyes that made her sift away slightly. "Hopefully, they will go away soon." he amended.

"Maybe we should see a doctor about them. I've heard the girls at the hub talking about shell shock." she told him.

"I don't have _shell shock_." he growled. "I'm not mental. I just need a good rest, a good feeding and fating up, and my life back. I need to get back to writing, I need to find away to trick you into marrying me, and then everything will be fine." he said.

She shrugged.  
"You'll accomplish none of those things naked, Mr. Eames." she told him casually.

"Well, if you're so uncomfortable, you are more than welcome to take off your night dress and join me Mrs. Hays." he said just as casually.

Ariadne tried not to smile, and failed.

"You're tempted. I can tell." he teased as he fed her a grape.

"Not that tempted. You're not as charming as you think you are, sir." she told him.

"I certainly am." he countered. "We can be like Adam and Eve if you want. No need for clothing because we don't know any better."

"But we do know better." she laughed.

They ate in silence for a while, Eames cutting up a block of cheese for them to share as the cold rain outside started to fall.

"So, tell me about your job taking care of Harold. You said that was why Fredrick married you?" Eames said.  
"I didn't say anything like that." Ariadne told him. A feeling of walking into a trap coming over her.

"Yes, you did." Eames argued. "I said it was nice of you to take care of young Harold for his father, and you said it was your job. It was why he married you."

"I did not." Ariadne said even though she now remembered she had told him those words almost exactly.

"He married you so that he would have someone to look after this boy." Eames accused.

"He did not. Fredrick and I were in love." she said feeling her face go hot.

"_Were_ in love?" he asked.

She said nothing.  
"But you're not in love anymore? Is it because he's wounded and blind?" he asked.  
"No." she said too quickly. "No, it's not that. If it were Arthur in that bed, I would be heart broken and I..."

"You what?" Eames prompted.  
"I wouldn't be here with you. If it were Arthur in that bed, blind and dying, I wouldn't be here with you. I loved Arthur." she whispered.  
"Yes, but Arthur's dead." Eames said hatefully.

"I know."

"Fredrick is on borrowed time as well." he added. His tongue like a knife.  
"I know!" Ariadne almost shouted.  
Eames leaned back and looked at her.

"Did you ever love Fredrick?" he asked.

She cut up an apple.

"Yes. I... not the way I loved Arthur. Not like I..." she let out a deep sigh. "I guess he was a safe choice."

"Did he love you? Or was it another marriage of convenience?" he asked.  
"Don't say that. It makes me sound like..." Ariadne sighed; her pride wounded.  
"Like what?"

"Like I'm not a real person with feelings or needs. I'm just a status symbol or a built in servant. I wanted to believe Fredrick married me because he loved me and not because he was protecting his child. He knew I would never put the boy in an orphanage. He knew I was too softhearted." she admitted.  
"Please tell me there wasn't a wedding night baby." Eames said.  
Ariadne laughed.  
"No. Fredrick slept in another room. He said he didn't want a baby in case he died over there." she told him.

"So you were the nanny, not the bride?" Eames asked.

Ariadne blinked back tears.  
"You married Arthur to save yourself and Olivia." Eames said. "He married you because he wanted the title and to restore his family honor. And..." he looked her over. "Because you're a lovely woman as well. You made him look ten times better than he had any right to look."

"Eames." she whispered. Knowing where this was going.  
"We both know you married Fredrick so quickly because you wanted to hurt me for becoming engaged to Charlotte." he went on. "You've been married twice and you'll soon be a widow again. I think you're third marriage should _not_ be a convenient one, or a vengeful one. I think your third marriage should be to a foolish scoundrel who loves you. Who carried your picture with him in the trenches and never wants to leave this bed with you. Who wants you naked with him day in and day out."

She stayed perfectly still as Eames leaned over and started to kiss her neck. His full lips blazing a trail up her neck to her ears and finally reaching her lips.

She never could resist him.

The pull she felt for him, started in her belly and bloomed wildly as his hands were cupping her breasts and lifting her night gown off her. Exposing her skin to the chill of morning air and his touch.


	30. Chapter 30

4.

~ "Eames." she whispered as her hands went to cover her bare breasts. She didn't even attempt to stop him from slipping off her night gown. Her thin layer of clothing falling off her as though it were a useless thing.  
"Eames, you're not well. You're..." she swallowed hard as her whole body felt hot under his gaze.

She lost her train of thought as his hands were in her hair and she was made to look him in the eyes. The intensity of his gaze, as there was no longer a trace of the boyish, scoundrel she knew just moments before.

Those eyes belonged to a man, torn apart by lust and want. She felt her sex quiver at the thought of all he wanted from her. Eames was many things, but he wasn't a gentleman when it came to his lust.

"You're still not well." she managed to get out before his lips attacked hers. Her sentence cut off and useless as their bodies melded harmoniously together.

The feel of foreign flesh on hers was beyond words. Even if nothing else came of it, she could live forever in the bliss of his bare chest on hers. The forbidden moments of sweet anticipation; when there was still time to turn back. To stop this race towards a cliff that they could never return from.

"I'm well enough." he whispered in her ear and she turned to the feel of his warm breath.

"Eames." she pleaded halfheartedly as his hands wandered to her breasts, plucked and aggravated her nipples, then roamed over her belly.  
"Do you want me?" he asked as she felt his fingers explore between her legs.

She gasped at the delightful intrusion on her sex. Her soon to be lover caressing her folds and rubbing over those secretive spots that mysteriously made her body jump and her breathing grow ragged.

"Because it looks like you want me." he said and held up the hand that had been touching her between the legs.

She opened her eyes to see his fingers were glistening with some kind of wetness she knew had come from her. A wetness that he had caused.

"I'm still married." she protested weakly as he easily pulled her down and with little effort, had her cradle his body between her legs. "You're still not well." she added as his teeth nipped her belly and she was vaguely aware he was stroking himself.

"Look, Ariadne." he demanded after several seconds. "Look what you've done to me."

She raised her head up to see his erect manhood treating entrance into her.  
"You can't." she panted.  
"I will." he counted.

She shook her head and weakly tried to push him away. His member was thick and monstrous as he was close, so dangerously close.  
"Wait, Eames, we can't." she whispered as he rolled back over her. His manhood hot and menacing as he kissed her.

"I won't take what you won't give willingly." he said into her ear. "But we both know you want this."

"I do, it's just... Eames, what if there's a baby?" she panted as he pulled her legs apart and his fingers delved inside her again.

"Don't worry about that. You know I want to marry you." he said.  
Ariadne bit her lip as she enjoyed his fingers rubbing and tormenting her. Jeffery had said almost the same thing the first time she was with him. He had told her not to worry about getting in a family way. Reminded her that they were in love and he wanted to marry her.  
"Eames." she croaked weakly as her hips moved with his fingers.

She sensed he was stoking himself into a fevered state and was close, so close, to taking her.

"Eames, we can't." she moved away from him but his hands kept her under him.  
"Eames!" she hissed at him as he was kissing her and she found it hard to think.

"I love you. I want you." he whispered as her legs were around his hips and she knew the thing was eminent.

"I'm still married to Fredrick. We can't do this... if I fall pregnant..." she panted as she felt herself drown in the sea of her own desire.

She forgot her own protest as he entered her. His fullness causing her to gasp out in surprise. Her body having forgotten what it was like to be taken by a man.

"OH!" she cried out as his lips burned her flesh as he rocked himself in her like a ship at sea.

She felt her body relax. She wasn't sure why she thought he would be a rough lover. His movements were capable, strong and fluid. He made love as effortlessly as breathing.

His thrusting wasn't hard or too quick, instead, he savored her. He tormented her with all he could giver her, but wouldn't.

He would come close to kissing her, then hover over her lips. Making her lean up to kiss him. He would swivel his hips just enough to bring her close to the edge, then refuse to do it again no matter how much she begged.

"Eames, please!" she cried as he trust rapidly and then moved back to a slow and steady rhythm that left her breathless, angry and her skin too hot.  
"Tell me what you want." he growled into her ear. "Tell me."

"You know what I want." she meowed up at him.

He gave her that impish, sadistic grin of his. Flicked his hips and she screamed with a wonderful, waterfall of release and joy.

"Next time you say it." he panted as she could feel his thrusting grow rapid and strong.

Her own body satiated and at peace as she felt him ride and take her completely. She could fall asleep with the fulfillment of it.

"Look at me!" he demanded sharply as she felt herself come back to earth. He was still on top of her, his manhood ravishing her with all his pent up strength and lust.  
She felt her eyes close again as his barbaric mating meant nothing now that her own orgasm had been achieved.  
"Look at me!" he growled and she fought to keep her eyes open as she felt his body spasm.

With an animal like grunting and groaning, he came.

His body unable to stop as he pulled himself out, pumped his hand hard over an enraged, red erection and came over her body. His seed spilling hot and useless on her belly as he groaned like a wounded beast.

"Ariadne." he panted as he worked the last of himself out. "Look... look what I did for you." he managed to get out before she felt asleep.

~ If she dreamed, she didn't remember it.

She knew his warm body was on top of hers. His knowledgeable hands touched her through the night as if she belonged to him. Like she was a delicate figurine he was afraid to break and yet, he couldn't help but touch and look over.

She woke to a chill in the air and realized she was cold.

She sighed and rolled closer to Eames. Grateful for the warm body next to her.  
"Ariadne." came a harsh shrew like voice.

Her eyes snapped open as she recognized the voice.

Her heart almost stopped as she looked out from the covers to see Lady Percy and Juniper glaring down at them.

She and Eames, naked in her bed with evidence of their activities unable to be denied.


	31. Chapter 31

~ Part VII ~

~ Gravity ~

1.

~ "Eames?" Ariadne whispered to her sleeping lover as he snored beside her.

She tried to keep the bedding covering her, but there was no denying that she was naked underneath with a man who was not her husband.

"Charles?" Juniper snapped and Eames opened his eyes slowly.

"Charles, wake up, now!" Juniper growled as her son sighed and rolled over.

Ariadne felt like her face was on fire as eyes were boring into her; judging her for her horrible sins.

"Mother." Eames said lazily as he looked from one older woman to the other.

He sat up in the bed and moved closer to Ariadne.  
"Don't _mother _me!" Juniper snapped. "When the chamber maid told us you were home and alive this morning, I thought she was lying!"

"The maid?" Ariadne whispered as she tried to hide her face in her long dark hair.

"She came to light the fires and saw you were not alone." Lady Percy said as Eames seemed only mildly annoyed to have the two women in the bedroom scowling over them.

"How long have you been home?" Juniper snapped.  
"Mother, I'm not in the state to talk about this just now." Eames said casually as Ariadne fought back a wave of nausea.

"Were you even going to tell me you were back from the war? All this time, no letters, nothing!" Juniper shouted.

She turned on Ariadne then.  
"You." she growled at the younger woman. "Your husband is downstairs dying and you jump into bed with my son?"

"She didn't jump into bed with me, I jumped into bed with her." Eames corrected.  
"Men can't help how they are." Juniper went on as if Eames nhadn't said anything. "You should have employed more restraint."

Her voice was like acid on Ariadne's heart. She covered her body better.

"Mother." Eames countered and Juniper turned on her heel and left.  
"Welcome home, Eames." Lady Percy said softly before taking her leave as well.

~ "Don't listen to what the old bats say." Eames said to her as Ariadne scrubbed her body free of the dried bodily fluids.  
"The maid saw us!" Ariadne snapped. "That means the whole staff knows. By the end of the day, the whole village will know!"

"So what?" Eames laughed. "You're a modern woman. Why can't you take a lover? Your husband married you for a lasting convenience and refused to even bed you. You need to have your fun while you can."

He tried to help her out of the tub but she swatted his hands away.

"Eames, I'm not brave enough to endue this kind of gossip. What happened last night, should not have happened. It can never happen again." she told him as she quickly dressed.  
Eames looked heart broken.

"You don't want to live with all the gossipers. I understand that. We can leave. We can go to India or even America if you want. Take Olivia and go." he offered.

"What about Harold?" Ariadne spat. "Or have you forgotten I have a husband downstaris who is dying?"

"Sorry, Mrs. Hays, I forgot your charming husband as you were writhing naked under me last night." Eames said.

She threw him a disgusted look and left left the room.

~ "You should be ashamed!" Juniper said once Eames and Ariadne reported to the ladies parlor. "Think of the scandal."

"Mother." Eames tried to say as he leaned heavily on his cane. His body not fully recovered yet.  
"We don't have a thing to say to you Charles." Juniper said hotly. "It's Ariadne who should have rebuffed you. I knew you were trouble the moment I saw you."

The older woman glared at Ariadne who felt herself wither slightly.  
"Mother, don't talk to her like that." Eames warned. "Ariadne and I are in love."

"We're..." Ariadne looked at him in confused horror. Were they in love?

"Oh, I've heard that before." Juniper scoffed. "From the myrid of girls you have ruined! Now, you add you late cousin's widow to the mix. A woman, who's second husband of less than a year is dying in a downstairs sitting room; blind and in pain. What kind of a whore are you, Ariadne? Couldn't you wait till poor Fredrick was dead before you wrapped you legs around my son?"

"Mother!" Eames shouted and his eyes flashed a frighting glint. "Never speak to her like that again!"

Ariadne tried not to cry. This whole conversation was achingly familiar. When she found out she was expecting Olivia after her affair with Jeffery. But unlike Jeffery, Eames was by her side. Defending hers as well as himself.  
"I won't have this, Charles!" Juniper said hotly. "This woman is not who I thought she was!"

"This woman is the woman I love. I'm not a teenager anymore, mother. I can live my own life. As soon as Mr. Hays is laid to rest, I intend on marrying her!"

"What? Now that she's probably carrying your bastered?" Juniper bit back with a mocking tone.

Eames looked as if he wanted to hit her just then. Juniper glared unflinchingly back at him.

"Ariadne." Lady Percy interrupted. "Fredrick is awake and asking for you. Could you bring him his breakfast tray?"

Ariadne sniffed and could barely see through her tears.

She nodded and hurried to the downstairs kitchens.

~ As soon as she reached the basement level, all noise stopped. There was a mass of servants in the kitchen and as soon as she appeared, the talking abruptly ceased and they went about their work once more.

She kept her face composed as she asked the cook for Fredrick tray.

"Right here, Missus." Maura said coming to her rescue.

"Thank you, Maura." Ariadne said. "How is Olivia?"

The two women walked down the servants hallway to Fredrick's room.  
"Fussy, but that's to be expected. You can't trust well behaved children no how." Maura said.

Ariadne was about to go into Fredrick's room when Maura asked.  
"Is it true, Missus? Is Mr. Eames back?" she asked.  
"What have you heard, Maura?"

The ladies maid shook her head.  
"Nothing, Missus. Just stupid kitchen gossip. But I thought it was too wonderful if Mr. Eames was home." Maura explained.  
"Well, Mr. Eames is home. Don't listen to kitchen gossip." Ariadne sighed.  
"Yes, Missus." Maura nodded.

~ "What's the weather like?" Fredrick asked as Ariadne helped him to eat.

She was still in a good mood, despite the ugly confrontation with Juniper that morning. Her blood still felt giddy and happy as the lingering feel of Eames' touch was still on her.

"It's raining a lot." she told him.  
"I can hear it." Fredrick said as she put jam on his toast.

"How is Harold?" he asked.  
"He misses you. He want's to know when you're coming home." Ariadne told him as she saw the swelling had come back.

"I don't want my son to see me like this. It will scare him." Fredrick told her.

"So you want to hide here forever?" she asked.  
He shook his head.  
"Ariadne, you know as well as I do that I'm dying. The ladies keep draining me, but I've already got an infection in my legs from it. They bought me more time, but that's all. The pain is getting worse and last night, I could feel the water come back in my lungs again." he told her.

"Fredrick." she whispered.

A deep pit of shame swelling in her body that she had enjoyed her night with Eames while poor Fredrick was suffering.

"Ariadne. I haven't done right by you." he said softly. "I married you, so that my son would have a nice, kind step mother who would care for him like her own. I saw you at that party, and you had this gentleness about you. If it wasn't for the war, I would still have married you. But I would have been a proper husband. I would have been with you and perhaps we could have children of our own. But I have to look after Harold. I promised my Mia."

"Fredrick, we don't have to talk-" she tried to say.  
"There is plenty of money for you and the children." he told her. "My Aunt and Uncle are too old to care for Harold. I know I've done wrong by you. That I have not been a good husband. But please, please take care of my boy. He's the only thing in the world I know I love."

Ariadne felt tears bite her eyes.

"Of course I'll take care of him. I can't live without him some days. Olivia is too much like her father and I need his sweetness." she said with a laugh.

Fredrick smiled as well.  
"He was always affectionate." he agreed. "He's not built for a hard life, Ariadne. He needs a mother who is gentle and kind."

"I'll look after him Fredrick. I promise." she told him.

"If you remarry, please make it to a man who is good to the both of you. Please don't let him mistreat my son." he begged.

"I won't." Ariadne whispered.  
Fredrick seemed at peace with her promise.

"Thank you, Ariadne." he said as she helped him finish his meal.

~ Lady Percy was waiting for her in the conservatory when she came back upstairs.

"Aunt Percy?" Ariadne asked. "What are you doing here? Where's Eames?"

"You lover and his mother are still fighting." Lady Percy said coldly.  
"He's not my lover." Ariadne said rolling her eyes.  
"Oh, so we misread the circumstances of your being in the same bad together this morning? We're you conserving body heat and didn't want to ruin your night clothes?" Lady Percy asked.

Ariadne didn't say anything.

Lady Percy took a deep breath.  
"I was watching Olivia and Harold playing this morning." Lady Percy said. "Do you know what she had taken to doing? It's really quite dreadful."

Ariadne didn't say a word.  
"Whenever little Harold is playing with a toy, no matter what it is, Olivia will take it from him. It's so American of her. She doesn't even want the toy, really. She only want's it because little Harold had it. It only had value because it didn't belong to her, but to another." Lady Percy said.

Ariadne looked at the older woman.  
"I love my nephew. Since he was a sickly little boy, I've loved him. But he is spoiled and lacked the unconditional love of a mother. We overcompensated that love when he came here to live and spoiled him. In many ways, he's just like Olivia. He saw you on Arthur's arm that first night. He knew he couldn't have you, so he wanted you all the more." Lady Percy explained.

Ariadne wanted to argue. Wanted to protest, but she kept quite.  
"I think, my nephew only wanted you because you were the one thing he could never have. I saw the mutual attraction you had for each other the moment he saw you." she explained. "But I knew you loved Arthur. I could see that just as clearly to. Then, when you told me Arthur had died, I knew it was only a matter of time before you gave into Eames. Then he was engaged to that dreadful Charlotte and you married Fredrick in such haste. Now, it seems fate is pushing you together again." Lady Percy sighed. "But, if you will indulge an old woman, child. Don't chose Eames. He doesn't know what to do with his prize once he's won it. When Fredrick is gone, when he is buried, I want you to leave Blue Rivers. Go back to America and not come back. Eames will break your heart and you've had more than your share of heartbreak."

"Lady Percy." she started to say. "You want me to leave this house?"

The old woman nodded.  
"Fredrick has little time left. Use it to make arrangements to leave and stay with Mr. Cobb and his wife. Don't tell Eames where you are going. Eames will never be the husband and father Arthur was. He will never be satisfied. He will be unfaithful to you within the year. He's done it before. He will find a nice maid who he can have his fun with and you will be bitter and angry at being used." Lady Percy explained.

Ariadne wanted to argue. Wanted to tell her how Eames really did love her. She opened her mouth and closed it again as she could easily imagine Eames with another woman.  
"Arthur would not want you to be with Eames." Lady Percy said. "He would want better for you than that."

The old woman leaned in closer and took her hand.

"You deserve better than that." she added.


	32. Chapter 32

2.

~ ''Tell me why Ariadne refused to enlighten us that my only child was alive and back home from the front." Juniper demanded.

Eames rolled his eyes and looked at the ugly portrait of Aunt Percy. He winced as he sat on the sofa. His wounded leg still hurting him. Especially after the work out he gave it last night.

"Because I told her not to, Mother." he said.

"So, I don't deserve to know my child is still alive? You think I don't need to know my son isn't dead? You have to tell that woman?" she said scathingly.

"Mother." Eames said. "I've told you before not to talk to her like that. Are you more angry that I didn't tell you I was home, or that I was in bed with the woman I love?"

"_The woman you love_." Juniper said mockingly. "How many times have I heard your proclamations of love. So many times, they are meaningless. All those girls in school and beyond. Charlotte? Now, you just jumped on a soon-to-be widow just because she's convenient and you had the need."

"Ariadne is not _convenient_." Eames seethed.

His teeth clenching and he gave his mother a dangerous look.

"And I won't have you calling her a whore ever again. As soon as Fredrick is gone, I will marry her and we will be leaving this wretched house. The world is changing, mother. I intend to be apart of that change." he said.

"What if she's with child now? I doubt you even thought about that. A married woman with another man's baby. The servants all know about it, which means the village will soon enough, then the world. Think of the family reputation if you won't think of your own. Think about what you've done to this poor girl. I've introduced her to a nice society and she married a good man. With one fail swoop, you've destroyed her reputation as well. And for what? Because you_ love her_? Because you love her, you've made her the target of gossip and whispering. People are cruel to fallen women, Charles." Juniper hissed.

Eames sat back in his seat. His mother's words stinging him like a slap to the face.

"She has children to care for Charles. How will you be as a father? God forbid she's with child now. How will you provide the example of an adult for thos children? Hmm? You stay in a conservatory all day and write." Juniper said bitterly. "You're nothing but a child yourself and she will have just another spoiled little boy to care for. That is till you find a new toy to play with and leave her!"

Eames stood up, still leaning on his cane.

"I'm glad you're so pleased I'm home safely from the war, Mother." he said and hobbeled out of the room.

~ Eames was amazed at how big Olivia had gotten. How she walked everywhere with ease and had her own personality.

She would be three in the spring and it was shocking how much she looked like Ariadne, but acted like Arthur.

"So, darling, are you two going on fifty?" he asked as the little girl played with her blocks. Harold wanting to be close to her, but Olivia not needing her step brother.

"No!" Olivia shouted to him when he tried to build his own tower.

"Olivia, play nice with your brother." Eames scolded gently.

How could his mother say he would make a poor father? He had been there for Olivia since she was born. It was true he had to go away to war, but he was back soon and he intended to be the father Fredrick refused to be. He would be a wonderful father, he knew it. He loved Ariadne, and by default, Olivia. Truth be told, he like Harold as well. He was a quite thing who seemed at the mercy of his little sister.

"I wish Olivia was a little nicer to Harold." Ariadne said as she came into the nursery.

Eames looked up and felt his heart skip a beat as the love of his life sat down on the carpet next to him.

"She'll grow out of it. Besides, pretty girls know they can do what they want." he said as he tried to take her hand.

"Eames, what happened last night, can never happen again." she whispered as Harold and Olivia went to play with their other toys.

"There might not be a baby, Ariadne. I didn't..." he tried to explain the logistics of of it, but felt a hot blush creep over his face.  
"It's not that." Ariadne whispered. "I'm a married woman. It was wrong, and you're not exactly the right man for me."

Eames didn't look at her.

"I love you." he whispered. "I've never been more sure of anything in my life as I am of that fact."

"I know, and I care very much about you. But it could never work, you're just-"

"Are you angry because the servants know?" he asked. "We could always leave."

"Eames, I'm never going to marry you. I'm never going to be with you again. As soon as Fredrick dies, I'm taking the children back to America. We need to start over and Mr. Cobb has been wanting me to leave this place since Arthur died." she told him.

"You're going to take the children and leave me?" he whispered. "Rather than let me love you, you're going to leave me?"

"Eames."

"I survived the war in penance for how I've wronged you. I thought you and I..." he swallowed hard. "Now, you'll forget me?"

She blinked back tears.

"As soon as Fredrick is gone, I'm leaving Blue Rivers. I'm leaving you." she said.

~ Ariadne had stayed in her rooms most of the day. She dreaded the thought of the servants gossiping below stairs. She knew what they were all saying. Knew that she was the subject of very vivid talk just now. The chamber maid who came to light the fires saw her in bed with Eames. They were no doubt lewdly uncovered. She had taken fright at the sight of him back home unannounced from the war and went to tell Juniper.

Now, she had no choice but to go to America and try to start over. Cobb wanted her there. Just last month, he asked if she could come for the holidays.

He and Mal were already expecting and he wanted her to stay with them.

She was about to fall asleep when she heard a knock on her door.  
"Come in, Maura." she called out. Thinking, as always, it was her maid.

She shouldn't have been so surprised it was Eames.  
"May I come in?" he asked as he slipped inside and locked the door.

"Little too late for locking the door isn't it?" she laughed. "If we're worried the maids will catch us."

"Perhaps." he agreed. That little smile she liked so much was back as he came to her bed.

"I think I should like to live in a house where there is only one housekeeper who doesn't live with us. A lady who cooks and cleans only in the day time and is gone at night. I've always have to worry about servants seeing me in this house." she said as he crawled into bed with her.

"In New York, I'm sure you can find a small house and keep a part time staff." he said. "I've heard people mind there own affairs in America."

He folded the covers over their bodies and she cuddled into him.  
She felt his full lips kissing her forehead.  
"I don't want you to leave me." he whispered.  
"I think I need to. I think it would be better if I did."

"I think I might die if you left me." he whispered.

"Eames, stop being so dramatic." she hissed and tried to laugh off the statement.

"I've gotten so much better since I've been around you. Haven't you noticed?" he asked. "I'm not hurting anymore and my color is back."

"Because you're home and you're eating better."

"Because I'm with you." he said.

"So, you're trying to make me feel guilty for leaving you?" she asked as she pressed her nose into his chest.

"I want to convince you to stay here. We could have a life together." he said.

She let out a sigh.  
"We could go to London and write. We could take the children and leave. You'll be a free woman as soon as Fredrick is gone. We could get a little house in the country even. We could live there with the little ones. I could work on my novel, you could write your short stories. You could bake little cakes and I would teach the children about social change. We could be free." he told her.

She had to smile at the picture Eames painted for her.

A lovely cottage by the sea. Olivia and Harold running wild and her and Eames living in a world they created.  
"Perhaps there could even be a bassinet in the corner." he added.

Her body tensed. Eames wasn't like Arthur. He was a great friend, a wonderful lover. But he wasn't steady like Arthur was.

Arthur was made of stone. No matter what life threw at him, he wouldn't break. Eames had left her time and time again when life got too hard. When he was threatened or didn't get his way.

She would fight with Arthur, and he would still be there. Mad at her, but never abandoning her. Eames was infamous for his desertion.

What would happen if there was no money? Or if he couldn't get published? Or if the children became sick? What if _life _happened? Eames could never deal with the messy parts of life with the fortitude Arthur had.  
"Then what?" she asked.  
"What do you mean? We'll be together. We'll have a home of our own and lives of our own."  
"Until you get bored with the whole domestic life." Ariadne snapped. "Or it get's too hard."

He pulled away from her slightly.  
"I see Aunt Percy and Mother have been talking to you again." he said.

"They're right. We both know it." she whispered.

"Ariadne, what do I need to do?" he whispered. "Tell me, and I'll do it. I don't want to be without you again. I was lucky to come home alive. I think it's our destiny to be together."  
"It isn't." she said. But her leg ran over his and her hand wandered over his waist.  
"Do you want me to go?" he asked as her hands touched bare skin.

"No." she whispered.  
"If you want me, you'll have to take all of me." he warned.

"I've just been lonely, Eames." she whispered as all she could think about was her blood rushing hot with want and her body craving his.

It had never been like this with Arthur. She never felt the heedless, reckless rush of desire, not even with Jeffery. That starving need she had with Eames was making her weak. Why not give into him? What was the worst that could happen?  
"I don't care how lonely you think you've been." he growled as her hands touched his bare chest as she started to kiss him. "You can't have me for enjoyment at night then reject me in the cold light of day."  
"You're the one who keeps crawling into bed with me, Mr. Eames." she whispered.

"Then I should leave. Until you come to you senses." he whispered. Threateningly moving away from her.

She arrested his escape by straddling her legs over his lap. She could fell his reaction start to grow.  
"Ariadne?" Eames said with a little smile. "What's gotten into you?" he asked.

Her only answer was removing her sheer night dress and tossing it to the floor.  
"You locked the door, right?" she whispered as Eames' lips attacked her breasts like he was starving.

"Yes." he growled. "And I won't be so polite tonight."

"Polite?" she repeated as he rolled her on her back and his large hands were stripping her of her panties as he effortlessly removed his own clothing.  
"You're mine." he told her. "You're mine and I'll prove it."


	33. Chapter 33

3.

~ Ariadne fought back a giggle.  
"You'll _prove_ it?" she challenged him as his fingers tickled down her belly and rested on her heated womanhood.

Eames gave her an amused little smirk.

"I think I know how to convince a woman to love me. Even if she doesn't want to." he whispered as she felt his fingers rub over her wet opening.  
She tried to remember to breath as his thick fingers rubbed and penetrated her. Her legs start to instinctively part at the feel of his touch.

"Open your legs." he ordered and she obeyed without question.

Eames seemed delighted by this submission, and his lips rewarded her with kisses to her belly as those devilish hands of his molested her. His lips moving downward to places she wasn't used to being kissed.

"Eames?" she croaked as his thumb ran over that strange part of her body that always made her jump. "What are you doing?"

She had an odd feeling that Eames was about to do something scandalous to her. Something she had never dreamed of. She was afraid of what he was about to do, yet she didn't want him to stop.

His lips were kissing her belly, but he kept moving downward. Down, down, down till she felt his breath between her legs.  
"Wait, what are you doing?" she gasped as he spread her legs further and his fingers parted her folds. Her hot desire exposed to him in a way she had never thought possible.  
"You'll like it, I promise." he growled.

"Like _what_?" Ariadne almost cried as she tried to sit up and his hands pushed her back down.  
"Just relax." he whispered before his mouth started to feed on her.

She couldn't breath. Her body seized up and her legs clamped shut on his head.

Eames' strong hands opened her legs again and she let out a choked cry of fear and animal like satisfaction.

Her hips bucked up and Eames seemed to meet her movements like a ship at sea. His eyes looking at her as his breath, his tongue and mouth made love to her in ways she couldn't describe.

"Eames!" she manged to cry out as his tongue licked her sensitive, swollen desire and she was left squealing from the pleasure.  
"Eames, Eames... Eames! Stop!" she cried as she felt a kind of sensory overload.  
The devil in Eames refused to let go of his prize. He was like a tiger and she was the gazelle he had lawfully captured an was devouring. No matter the gazelles pleas for mercy, the tiger would never relinquish it's feast.

She couldn't breath, she couldn't think. All she could do was let out loud groans of helpless pleasure and pull on the bed sheets to keep her from clawing at him or herself.

"Eames..." she panted as a forceful and violent orgasm left her broken and unable to escape her capture. "Eames, no more... please... I can't..." she manged to get out as another climax made her legs clamp hard over his head and his tongue wouldn't stop it's tormenting.

Eames suddenly released her.

Her poor body was happily satiated and over stimulated as he mounted her.

She kept her legs closed instinctively as soon as her lover let her go. But his hands were back on her once more; spreading her legs for him.

Despite his injury, trauma of war and his near starvation, Eames was still nimble when he needed to be.

"Eames, I can't." she managed to say as she sensed he was removing his clothing and knew what he was about to do now.

She had never felt like this. Her body was like someone had set it on fire. Her womanhood felt ready to ignite from her own lust. She could never be satisfied now. Not with Eames, not with Arthur or Fredric. Not even with all three at once.

She blushed hot at the idea of all three men in bed with her at once. All of them looking at her as she was naked and forced to submit to their desires.

Her body burned hot again at the idea of such thoughts, and she felt any shame of three men in her bed burn away with it.

"Eames." she whispered as she knew he was about to take her.

He legs were lazily spread wide for him and her desire was open and dripping wet with her unresolved lust.  
"I can't take you." she managed to say.

It was true. Her desire was too sensitive, too hot. If he entered her, she might die of the over stimulation.

Eames only smiled as he leaned down and kissed her.  
"You can." he whispered.  
"I can't." she cried as her fingers wandered down to her wetness and she was stroking herself. Her inner fire unable to be extinguished.  
"You can... I promise you can." he whispered.

She shook her head and before she could think of how to speak again, he had taken her.

His member sliding in so effortlessly, she barely noticed. Her inner walls and passage, so wet and ready, his claim felt like perfection in her body.

"Breath." he ordered and she slowly let out a long breath as he rocked himself in and out of her body. His member filling and making her sex jump involuntarily.

"Tell me you love me." he ordered.

She realized he was making her whole body move with each thrust he delivered into her.  
"Tell me you love me." he demanded again. "Say it."

"I..." she panted as she felt her body jerk more violently as his tempo increased.  
"_Say it!"_ he shouted at her.  
"I love you." she whispered.  
"Louder!" he demanded.  
"I love you." she said more assuredly.

She was rewarded by his hips bucking harder into her. His thrusting becoming more intense. This meant nothing to her now. Her body loved this. Her wetness was hot and she took all of him. Whatever trauma he tried to inflict, became harmonious in her body.

"God, Ariadne." Eames growled as he worked himself quicker.

She felt herself come again and again till her toes curled and she thought he might kill her this way.

"I'm not leaving you." he panted as he started to grunt and his body seized up. His face contorting with his own release. "I wont!" he snarled as she felt his release happen.

He was panting hard as he collapsed, sweating and beaten on top on her.

She knew what he had done. They had spent all this time playing it safe, only to throw caution fully to the winds tonight.

**Sorry no updates in a while. Been really tired. BOO!**


	34. Chapter 34

4.

~ He was kissing her feet and she was trying not to laugh. His lips pressing into the curve of her foot as she tried not kick away from him.  
"Ticklish?" Eames asked as he kissed her toes and she giggled.  
"I never thought I was." Ariadne told him as she felt as giddy as she did the first few nights she was married to Arthur.

That lovely euphoric feeling of a new and promising infatuation that wanted so desperately to turn into love.

It was early morning and Eames had built a cozy fire to chase away the encroaching winter chill that always haunted Blue Rivers. The couple, after their furious lovemaking, had settled on the rug to enjoy the warmth of the fire.

Eames had refused to let Ariadne re-dress or even wrap a sheet around herself. Insisting she was at her most beautiful when she wore nothing.

Her new lover had likewise remained unclothed as they enjoyed the fire.

"Where did you learn to do that?" she asked him as his thumb rolled over the arch of her foot again.

"Do what?" he asked with a sinister little smile.

"You know what." she scolded and lightly hit him. Her cheeks flushed red at being too lady like to say it. "When you had your... your mouth... down... down_ there_." she said and blushed harder.

Eames only gave her a little smirk.

"It's an ancient Indian sex book call the Kamasutra. I'll lend it to you. It's full of the numerous and interesting ways to make love." he said.

"There's more then one?" she asked in disbelief and Eames started to laugh.

He laughed a laughed and seemed unable to stop as she told him to quit teasing her.  
"I haven't been able to write since before I left for the war." Eames sighed. "I think I can do it now that we're together. The words want to come to me again."

"You haven't written at all? You used to write every day." Ariadne told him as her long dark hair manged to cover her breasts and nothing more. She felt like Lady Godiva, riding her horse naked through the streets with only her hair to cover herself. Likewise, she kept her hair covering her breasts as best she could. Or, as much as Eames would allow.

Her new lover had changed from a carelessly charming man to a demanding creature who refused to be parted from the things he wanted most.

"I couldn't make the words come. My stories were falling flat." he told her sadly. "I was too depressed to write."

"Sadness brings out the best in writers." she told him as he was kissing the arch in her foot again.  
"Not in me. I would try to write about how sad I was, it just made things worse." he said.

"So what do you want to write about?" she asked.  
"I was thinking a love story. About a knight who falls in love with another man's wife. The king's wife no less. He only pretends to serve the king so he can protect the queen and grow closer to her." he said.

She gave him a laugh.

"You're talking about Lancelot and Guinevere." she told him.

"No, it's different." Eames promised.

"How so?" she teased.  
"It just will be." he assured her.  
"Is it about you and me?" she asked.

Eames said nothing.  
"Because I was another man's wife. I was Arthur's wife. He was like a king. Is my Arthur to be your king Arthur?" she prompted.  
Eames said nothing.  
"Because you know, if Arthur hadn't died on the _Empress_, I wouldn't be here with you. You couldn't have seduced me like you've done. I wouldn't have been with you, no matter what." she assured him.

Eames said nothing. His hands playing with her feet.  
"I loved Arthur." she whispered.

Eames gave her an odd look then. One that she wasn't used to seeing on him. A look of menacing hatred that was almost dangerous.

"I know that." he whispered.

She wanted to say something else. Assure him she did love him, but the words didn't come.

"So what have you been writing about?" he asked. Changing the subject so they could avoid a fight.

"I haven't. Gave it up." she told him flatly.

"What?" he laughed.

She let out a long sigh.  
"I haven't been published since Arthur died, Eames." she admitted.

"Yeah, but you've been writing. I've seen you."

She shook her head.  
"No, it's rubbish. All of it." she said sadly. "I've been too busy with Olivia and Harold, my job, the war, the house. Not to mention your mother and Lady Percy."

"We need to start writing again. We can't used our conservatory, we can lock ourselves in here and write. We'll create masterpieces of literature while we make love all day." he promised.

She rolled her eyes.

"Eames, what about the kids? What about your mother and Fredrick?" she said as she felt that thorny pin prick of guilt start to grow.

"Ariadne, I've waited for you long enough." Eames said. "I don't know what more I have to do to prove to you I love you."

"I... I know you..." she stammered.  
"Fredrick will be gone, and I want to leave this house forever. We can go where we want, be who we want." he promised.

"What about your mother? What about Lady Percy? The children? How would they live with us being creative geniuses?" she questioned.

The practicality of Eames' plan was starting to crack. His dreams were lovely and she yearned for them the be true. But life had already taught her ugly lessons. Reality wasn't picture perfect. Eames wanted a cozy cottage by the sea where they could be together with no cares or allowances for the future.

Eames was so unlike Arthur. Her poor late husband would have ensured they had a proper home, financial backing and a plan. Arthur was the unimaginative planner. Eames was the careless free spirit.

"I need to get dressed. It's almost time to get the kids up and I need to give Fredrick his breakfast." she said as she slipped away from Eames.  
"Ariadne, it's still early." he insisted as she went to her wardrobe and started to get dressed.  
"I have things to do today." she said absentmindedly.

_~ Cobb Residence ~_

_~ New York City ~_

~ Cobb looked over the three telegrams he received that morning.  
"I'm becoming popular." he muttered as Arthur scowled over the business section.

He was glad his friend had returned to normal in the year since he had resurfaced. It had been a hard road. His former friend had been traumatized by the ship sinking from under him.

His separation from Ariadne and Olivia had seemed to hurt him even more.

Cobb had tried in vain to coax Arthur to contact his now ex wife. She thought he was dead and didn't know he had divorced her so she could marry Fredrick.

Cobb had also tried to get Ariadne to come to New York and 'accidentally' run into Arthur. Neither one seemed to take the bait.

Arthur need his wife, Cobb decided. He had reverted to the cold heartless business owner he was before he married his convenient wife.

Ariadne had softened Arthur somehow. She had been very good for him and transformed him into a man that was happier and more content.

Since the Empress sank and Arthur had come to live with Cobb and Mal, he had become colder and more distant. Cobb was sure if Ariadne would only come back into his life again, everything that was wrong with Arthur, would be restored.

"These rioting over factory conditions." Arthur muttered as he red over his paper instead of eating.

"Thought you were making better working conditions." Cobb said as he read a telegram from his uncle.

"It's too expensive and with the war in Europe, there is too much money to be made." Arthur said.  
"Yes, but 16 hour days? No time off?" Cobb questioned. "It's like forced labor in some places."

When Arthur re-assumed control of his factories, all of the high minded ideals of social change and workers rights went away.

Arthur had instead increased working hours and started to pay his workers less money. In the past year, there were three riots that broke out because of the conditions.

"I'm not going to engage in talk about how I run my factories, Cobb. I don't force people to work for me. I pay them a livable wage and I have plenty of people who are willing to do the work." Arthur grumbled as he ignored his food and drink only black coffee.

Cobb bit his tongue and glared at his friend.

If Ariadne were here, she would have scolded him. She would have given him a speech about human rights and how he was employing immigrants who didn't know there were laws against such places and working conditions.

Arthur would listen, become annoyed and they would agree to disagree. Then, Arthur would change to make her happy. He would always give into her to make her happy. He would grumble and call her _madam_ for a few days, but then he would be content if the woman he loved was pleased with him.

Arthur was a better person because of her and Cobb was intent on bringing them together again.

He gave his friend a cold look before opening the last telegram.

He almost exclaimed at it coming over from England, when he had to bite his lip.

**Cobb.**

**Fredrick Hays passed away from his war related injuries this morning.**

**The children and I will be leaving England the first of December. **

**We expect to arrive in New York on December 8th. **

**Hope to see you and Mal soon. **

**We plan to live in New York indefinitely.**

**Regards, **

**Mrs. Ariadne Bradford- Hays. **

Cobb looked up at Arthur, his heart beating a little faster.

"What is it?" Arthur asked as he finished his paper and glared at his friend.

"Nothing." Cobb said and stuffed Ariadne's telegram in his pocket.

**sorry this took so long to post up. is acting up.**


	35. Chapter 35

_~ Part VIII ~_

_~ The Hardest Part ~_

1.

~ Fredrick died peacefully in his sleep one night not long after Eames' returned home. Maggie had found him in his sick bed that morning while the rest of the house was waking up. His skin pale and gray; his body still and his blind eyes now at peace.

His breathing had been terrible for the past few days and nothing could be done for him. He had been in horrible pain as his legs and arms swelled once more as he kept coughing up blood.

He had cried and complained for days. Begging Ariadne to look after Harold with his last breath. She dutifully promised to take care of the little boy, leaving her dying husband when she could no longer stand to see him this way. She would go to Eames, her lover chasing away all her terrors and guilt she felt for being with him.

Collectively, she and Eames had started to write again. But it wasn't the same. Eames' words lacked power and focus, and Ariadne couldn't seem to find a purpose to her stories. She was no longer interested in the hobby of writing.

When Maggie reported that Fredrick had died, Ariadne sat by his bedside. Fredrick's lifeless body awaiting the undertaker to collect him.

"Maggie?" she called to the pretty red haired maid.

"Yes?" Maggie said promptly.

Ariadne stood and handed a sealed envelope to her.

"I want you to deliver this telegram application to the phone hub and have it sent to Mr. Cobb in New York.

"Cobb?" Maggie questioned. "Lord Bradford's man?"

"Yes." Ariadne whispered.

Almost immediately, she had Maura pack her trunk for herself and the children.

"You're going back to America, Missus?" Maura questioned as her mistress made her pack in secret.

"No, Maura. _We're_ going to America. You don't think I would leave you here in Blue Rivers alone? I need you too much. Mr. Cobb has kept asking me to come and see him and I think the time has come for Olivia to meet her grandparents." Ariadne told her.

"Will Mr. Eames be going with us?" Maura asked.

Ariadne felt her hands tighten on the leather strap to her steamer trunk. It was the same trunk she had traveled with on Mauritania with Arthur. The one he had riffled through that first night when she didn't have anything decent to wear.

"No, Maura. Mr. Eames will not be told about our plans to leave. We'll be taking the car directly from the church yard to the ship." Ariadne said.

~ Booking passage was easier said than done. The war was still on and Olivia and Harold were not Americans which made the process a little more complicated. Cobb had to wire paper work to the home office to have passports for her, the children and Maura. He even sent a note asking her to stay with him and Mal when she got there.

She would be leaving for America as soon as Fredrick was in the ground.

~ Harold took Fredrick's death hard. Ariadne told him about how his father was a hero and how he was with his real mother now.

The little boy sat in his step mother's lap as she ran her hands through his hair.  
"So where will I go?" he asked as he finally calmed down after his crying fit.

"You'll stay with me, silly." Ariadne teased. "You'll be the man of the house. You have a lot of responsibilities to. You have to make certain Olivia stays out of trouble, and you have to make sure to put your jacket away like I taught you. You have to practice good table manners and set a good example." she told him.

Since Phillipa had gone away to school, and James started hanging around the older boys from the village, Harold was lonely with only Olivia for company. His younger step sister wanted little to do with him and preferred her own company.

"I can stay with you?" Harold asked as Ariadne cleaned his face with her handkerchief.

"I need you." Ariadne said as she gave him a hug and helped him dress in his mourning clothes.

~ Eames had stayed away after Fredrick died. He seemed to sense his presence was an intrusion and stayed in his own rooms until the day of the funereal. Lady Percy and Juniper, however, were front and center Preparing for the meal service at the wake, and writing all the necessary letters to friends and family.

"Of course you're too prostrate with grief to be trouble with this." Juniper said when Ariadne expressed displeasure at another woman writing about her husband's death to his friend and family.

"Juniper, I am perfectly capable of doing the necessary correspondence." Ariadne fumed.

"I've already started them. Why don't you go find Charles? I'm sure my son would be of great comfort to you. The both of you must have loads of plans to make now." she said.

Ariadne wanted to slap Juniper just then. But she went to her rooms and helped Maura with the packing. The sooner they were gone from this house, the better.

~ Fredrick's funeral was short, simple and populated mostly by the few friends and family he had in London. Ariadne buried him next to his beloved Amelia in the little church yard where Arthur's grave marker was placed.

People kept trying to talk to her about how grief stricken she must be. To lose two beloved husbands in just two years. It was more than should be allowed. Fredrick's bubbly Aunt and her neighbors wept openly. Olivia was fussy and Harold rested his head on Ariadne's lap during the service as Ariadne had to once more wear her hated widow's veil.

After he was properly buried, Juniper invited the mourners to Blue Rivers for lunch and there was a hasty exodus to the large estate house.

"Ariadne?" Eames whispered as the mourners all took their own cars and buggies to the house. "Are you coming?"  
"Yes, I need a little while. I wanted to put flowers on Arthur's grave." she told him as Olivia and Harold chased each other in the graveyard. Careless of the sacred ground as the were delighted to be dressed in their best clothes and outside.

"I'll stay with you." he whispered, taking her hand.  
"No." she said sharply. "No, I'll be alright. Maura will stay with me."

"I can take the kids back. They've had a long day." Eames said.

"I'll drive us all back when we're ready, Eames." Ariadne told him curtly.

Her new lover nodded and left her in peace.

Ariadne looked over Fredrick's grave for a long time. She was glad he was gone. He suffered so much. She was thankful she could bury him next to his first wife. His real wife. She was never his wife. Not in any sense of the word was she his wife.  
"Fredrick, I'll promise. I'll look after Harold." she whispered.

His grave was silent. There was nothing left to say.

She wandered over to the prestigious Bradford section of the cemetery. Here, all the Bradfords were laid to rest. Lady Percy's parents, brothers, nieces and nephews. Phillipa's mother was here and there were markers for her father and brother who died on _Titanic_. Arthur's grave marker was here as well. No body was delivered to them. Ariadne had a fashionable head stone, full of ivy engravings around his name shipped in.  
"Olivia, come here." Ariadne ordered as Harold chased his giggling little sister some more.

Olivia came to rest on her mother lap as Ariadne brushed the tears away from her face.

"Children,' she said. Clearing her throat. "We're not going back to the house. We're going to take a car trip to London and then a ship to America."  
"When will we come back?" Harold asked as she spotted Maura in Arthur's car. Their belongings carefully and strategically packed away so no one would see.

"Not for a very long time." Ariadne said. "So, we need to say goodbye. Harold, you said goodbye to your mommy and daddy today, but Olivia, I want you to say goodbye to your daddy."

The little girl looked doubtful.

"Your daddy loved you very much and we won't be back for a long time." Ariadne whispered to her daughter.

Olivia shook her head and buried her face in her mother's chest.

"Missus, if you mean to be leaving, we best do it now. Before Mr. Eames comes back. He's like a blood hound for you." Maura said.

Ariadne nodded and picked up her little girl who was getting too heavy for her.

"Alright, children." she sighed. "It's time to go."

She gave her convenient husband's head stone one last look and whispered.  
"Goodbye, Arthur."


End file.
